After reading L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” readers encounter some images of heroes who are morally strong and set a life example for us. We see heroes who go through a difficult path to find their truth in life. This is how the image of Andrei Bolkonsky is presented in the novel “War and Peace”. The image is multifaceted, ambiguous, complex, but understandable to the reader.
Portrait of Andrei Bolkonsky
We meet Bolkonsky at the evening of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. L.N. Tolstoy gives him the following description: “...short stature, a very handsome young man with certain dry features.” We see that the prince’s presence at the evening is very passive. He came there because it was supposed to: his wife Lisa was at the evening, and he had to be next to her. But Bolkonsky is clearly bored, the author shows this in everything “... from a tired, bored look to a quiet, measured step.”
In the image of Bolkonsky in the novel “War and Peace,” Tolstoy shows an educated, intelligent, noble secular man who knows how to think rationally and be worthy of his title. Andrei loved his family very much, respected his father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, called him “You, father...” As Tolstoy writes, “... cheerfully endured his father’s ridicule of new people and with visible joy called his father to a conversation and listened to him.”
He was kind and caring, although he may not seem like that to us.
Heroes of the novel about Andrei Bolkonsky
Lisa, the wife of Prince Andrei, was somewhat afraid of her strict husband. Before leaving for the war, she told him: “...Andrey, you have changed so much, you have changed so much...”
Pierre Bezukhov “...considered Prince Andrei an example of all perfections...” His attitude towards Bolkonsky was sincerely kind and gentle. Their friendship remained faithful to the end.
Marya Bolkonskaya, Andrei’s sister, said: “You are good to everyone, Andre, but you have some kind of pride in thought.” By this she emphasized her brother’s special dignity, his nobility, intelligence, and high ideals.
Old Prince Bolkonsky had high hopes for his son, but he loved him like a father. “Remember one thing, if they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man... And if I find out that you did not behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be... ashamed!” - the father said goodbye.
Kutuzov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, treated Bolkonsky in a fatherly manner. He received him cordially and made him his adjutant. “I need good officers myself...” said Kutuzov when Andrei asked to be released into Bagration’s detachment.
Prince Bolkonsky and the war
In a conversation with Pierre Bezukhov, Bolkonsky expressed the thought: “Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot get out. Now I’m going to war, to the greatest war that has ever happened, but I don’t know anything and I’m no good.”
But Andrei’s craving for fame, for his greatest destiny was strong, he was heading towards “his Toulon” - here he is, the hero of Tolstoy’s novel. “...we are officers who serve our Tsar and Fatherland...” Bolkonsky said with true patriotism.
At the request of his father, Andrei ended up at Kutuzov’s headquarters. In the army, Andrei had two reputations, very different from each other. Some “listened to him, admired him and imitated him,” others “considered him a pompous, cold and unpleasant person.” But he made them love and respect him, some were even afraid of him.
Bolkonsky considered Napoleon Bonaparte a “great commander.” He recognized his genius and admired his talent for warfare. When Bolkonsky was assigned the mission to report to the Austrian Emperor Franz about the successful battle of Krems, Bolkonsky was proud and glad that he was the one going. He felt like a hero. But having arrived in Brunne, he learned that Vienna was occupied by the French, that there was “the Prussian Union, betrayal of Austria, a new triumph of Bonaparte...” and no longer thought about his glory. He thought about how to save the Russian army.
In the Battle of Austerlitz, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel War and Peace is at the peak of his glory. Without expecting it, he grabbed the thrown banner and shouted “Guys, go ahead!” ran towards the enemy, and the whole battalion ran after him. Andrei was wounded and fell on the field, there was only the sky above him: “... there is nothing but silence, calm. And thank God!..” Andrei’s fate after the Battle of Austrelitz was unknown. Kutuzov wrote to Bolkonsky’s father: “Your son, in my eyes, with a banner in his hands, in front of the regiment, fell as a hero worthy of his father and his fatherland... it is still unknown whether he is alive or not.” But soon Andrei returned home and decided not to participate in any military operations anymore. His life acquired apparent calm and indifference. The meeting with Natasha Rostova turned his life upside down: “Suddenly such an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes, contradictory to his whole life, arose in his soul...”
Bolkonsky and love
At the very beginning of the novel, in a conversation with Pierre Bezukhov, Bolkonsky said the phrase: “Never, never get married, my friend!” Andrei seemed to love his wife Lisa, but his judgments about women speak of his arrogance: “Egoism, vanity, stupidity, insignificance in everything - these are women when they show themselves as they are. If you look at them in the light, it seems like there is something, but there’s nothing, nothing, nothing!” When he first saw Rostova, she seemed to him like a joyful, eccentric girl who only knew how to run, sing, dance and have fun. But gradually a feeling of love came to him. Natasha gave him lightness, joy, a sense of life, something Bolkonsky had long forgotten. There was no more melancholy, contempt for life, disappointment, he felt a completely different, new life. Andrei told Pierre about his love and became convinced of the idea of marrying Rostova.
Prince Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova were matched. Separating for a whole year was torment for Natasha, and a test of feelings for Andrei. Having been carried away by Anatoly Kuragin, Rostova did not keep her word to Bolkonsky. But by the will of fate, Anatol and Andrei ended up together on their deathbed. Bolkonsky forgave him and Natasha. After being wounded on the Borodino field, Andrei dies. Natasha spends his last days of life with him. She looks after him very carefully, understanding and guessing with her eyes what exactly Bolkonsky wants.
Andrei Bolkonsky and death
Bolkonsky was not afraid to die. He had experienced this feeling twice already. Lying under the Austerlitz sky, he thought that death had come to him. And now, next to Natasha, he was absolutely sure that he had not lived this life in vain. Prince Andrei's last thoughts were about love, about life. He died in complete peace, because he knew and understood what love is, and what he loves: “Love? What is love?... Love interferes with death. Love is life..."
But still, in the novel “War and Peace” Andrei Bolkonsky deserves special attention. That is why, after reading Tolstoy’s novel, I decided to write an essay on the topic “Andrei Bolkonsky - the hero of the novel “War and Peace.” Although there are enough worthy heroes in this work, Pierre, Natasha, and Marya.
Work test
One of the most extraordinary and multifaceted personalities in Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is the image of the brilliant Russian prince and officer Andrei Bolkonsky.
Throughout the novel, he finds himself in various life situations: he loses his young wife, participates in the war with the French, experiences a difficult breakup with his young bride and unfulfilled wife Rostova, and at the very end dies from a mortal wound received on the battlefield.
Characteristics of the hero
("Prince Andrei Bolkonsky", sketch portrait. Nikolaev A.V., illustration for the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace", 1956)
Prince Andrei is a young Russian nobleman and officer, distinguished by his handsome appearance and stately figure. His first meeting with readers takes place in Anna Scherer's salon, where he comes with his wife, Kutuzov's niece. He has a bored and distant look, perking up only after meeting his old acquaintance Pierre Bezukhov, whose friendship he valued very much. His relationship with his wife is very strained and cool; they live like strangers to each other. He is tired of the empty social life, which is so close to his young and inexperienced wife, and does not see any meaning in it.
The vain and ambitious prince, wanting honors and glory, goes to war. There he behaves completely differently, here such qualities as courage, nobility, endurance, intelligence and great courage are revealed. Having received a severe wound in the battle of Austerlitz and realizing the transience of life and his powerlessness and insignificance before eternity, he completely changes his position in life.
Disillusioned with military affairs, as well as with his former idol Napoleon, the prince decides to devote himself entirely to his family. However, this is not destined to come true; upon arriving at the estate, he finds his wife on her deathbed as a result of a difficult birth. Andrei Volkonsky, whom the family no longer hoped to see alive, is left with his newborn son Nikolenka in his arms, broken dreams of a happy family life and a heart devastated by grief and sadness. He feels guilty before his deceased wife and regrets that he was not a good husband to her during his lifetime.
Having met and fallen in love with the young Natasha Rostova, who is pure and open in heart and soul, Bolkonsky thaws and gradually begins to show interest in life. Usually he is cold and restrained in emotions, by nature he is a closed person who keeps his emotions in check, and only with Natasha he truly opens up and shows his true feelings. Countess Rostova reciprocates his feelings, the engagement takes place and the wedding is just around the corner. However, being an exemplary son who respects the opinions of his elders, at the insistence of his father, who was against his marriage, he goes abroad for some time. An easily carried away nature, the still very young bride falls in love with the young rake Kuragin, and the prince, unable to forgive the betrayal, breaks up with her.
Devastated and crushed by her betrayal, Volkonsky, wanting to extinguish his emotional wounds, goes back to war. There he no longer seeks glory and recognition; driven by a spiritual impulse, he simply defends his Fatherland and makes the difficult life of a soldier as easy as he can.
Having received a mortal wound in the Battle of Borodino, he ends up in the hospital, and there he meets the love of his life, Natasha Rostova. Before his death, he manages to confess his feelings to her and generously forgives both the offender Kuragin and the girl’s flighty and thoughtless act, which ruined the lives of both of them. Finally he understands the true meaning of the love that unites them, but it is too late...
The image of the main character
(Vyacheslav Tikhonov as Andrei Bolkonsky, feature film "War and Peace", USSR 1967)
Perhaps if at the time of the second meeting between Rostova and Bolkonsky there would not have been a war between Russia and France at that time. Everything would end with a happy ending and their wedding. And maybe a marriage of hearts so passionately in love would be an ideal symbol of family relationships. But it has long been inherent in man to exterminate his own kind, and the most noble and bright representatives of their Fatherland always die in war, who could in the future bring considerable benefit to their country, but they are not destined to do this.
It is not for nothing that Leo Tolstoy leads his hero Andrei Volkonsky through difficult trials and torment, because they raised him to the pinnacle of the spirit, showed him the way to achieve harmony with other people and peace with himself. Having cleansed himself of everything empty and insincere: pride, hatred, selfishness and vanity, he discovered a new spiritual world, full of pure thoughts, goodness and light. He dies a happy man in the arms of his beloved, having fully accepted the world as it is and in complete harmony with it.
Roman L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" reflects the most important moments in the life of the people, the mentality of different social strata during times of peace and during times of war. The author despises high society and very carefully describes the life of ordinary Russian people. However, even among aristocrats there are people worthy of respect and admiration. These include Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, whose life is filled with the search for answers to the most important moral questions, the desire to comprehend the meaning of existence, and the desire for truth and kindness.
Prince Andrei at the beginning of the novel
At the very first appearance of Prince Andrei on the pages of the novel, the reader sees him as a man who does not find peace, who is not satisfied with his own life. All his dreams come down to a single goal - to be useful to society. Therefore, in 1805, he went to serve in the army, full of enthusiastic thoughts about Bonaparte.
Bolkonsky is not interested in ranks, so he first serves with the rank of adjutant. He is a patriot, with every cell of his soul he feels responsible for the future of Russia and the Russian army.
The issue of patriotism and heroism is one of the main ones in the novel. Bolkonsky will no doubt give his life for his native fatherland, he himself asks to go to the hottest spots, just to help the army win decisive battles, even at the cost of his life.
Spiritual quest of Prince Bolkonsky
In the midst of a military campaign, Andrei receives news of the birth of a child and the death of his wife, before whom he feels guilty due to his lack of love for her. This news shocked the hero and increased feelings of spiritual emptiness and despair. Life for him was nearing its logical conclusion; disappointment in everything gripped his entire being.
The revival of Prince Andrei occurred after seeing the high sky of Austerlitz, when the hero found himself on the verge of life and death. Subsequently, the hero’s soul was healed in conversations with Pierre Bezukhov and after meeting young Natasha Rostova, who finally brought him back to life. The hero begins to understand that not everything is over yet.
Meeting with Natasha
A meeting with young, cheerful, cheerful Natasha again awakens in Andrey dreams of simple human happiness - family, children, a new life. Bolkonsky lacked Natasha’s dreaminess and poetry, this is what attracted him to her.
Gradually, having opened up to the girl about his feelings, Andrei begins to feel responsible for his beloved and at the same time be afraid of obligations. After postponing the wedding for a year, the characters begin to understand how different they are. The prince has experience, trials, misfortunes, war, injury behind him. Natasha saw life for her wife, but did not feel its taste. She lives by feelings, Andrey lives by mind.
The need for constant activity, a change of feelings and places, new acquaintances and events brings an inexperienced girl into the world of the Kuragins - cynical and cold people. Natasha could not resist Anatole’s charm, thereby destroying Bolkonsky’s hopes for a happy family. The prince turns to service again.
The last stage of the life of Prince Andrei
The army makes Andrei forget personal failures, disappointments and grievances. Here you have to think about the fate of your regiment. The soldiers love and are proud of such a leader and call him “our prince.”
Before the Battle of Borodino, confidence in victory did not leave Bolkonsky; he believed in the strength of his soldiers, in his own strength. He was leisurely admiring the beauty of his native nature when he received a mortal wound. Looking into the eyes of death, Prince Andrei understands his own unity with the world around him, feels all-consuming love and forgiveness.
Having met Natasha for the last time, Andrei sees significant changes in her - she has become more mature, the suffering she has experienced and the awareness of her own guilt before Bolkonsky appeared in her eyes. He grants her forgiveness and plunges into love for Natasha, loves her sublimely, with unearthly love. These feelings color the last hours of his life. So Prince Andrei found faith, united the sublime and the earthly in his consciousness - he did what he had been striving for all his life.
On the pages of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” you can meet many diverse and interesting characters from a literary point of view. Positive and negative, with their own strengths and weaknesses, in a word - the most ordinary people, of whom there are many in any city and in any country in the world. However, I would like to highlight one hero of the novel separately - of course, Andrei Bolkonsky.
Bolkonsky is a deep, extremely intelligent, proud and purposeful person. He is not afraid to openly express his opinion and is able to defend it, and when he decides to do something, he always goes to the end, without putting it off halfway. Bolkonsky is reasonable and rational, he is not prone to rash acts or inappropriate actions, and this integrity of his image certainly attracts and delights both readers and many other heroes of the work.
During military operations, Andrei Bolkonsky reveals himself not only as an educated and intelligent person with a sober mind, but also as a wise fighter, capable of showing composure and going to certain death without fearing for the safety of his own life. Bolkonsky returns from the battlefield changed - disappointed in his idol, Napoleon, aware of the need not only for constant self-development, but also in the desire to help his homeland win the war - even at the cost of his own death. True patriotism awakens in the hero, which lies precisely in love for his homeland and an unbridled desire to help it, without creating for himself either idols or human ideals.
In my opinion, Andrei Bolkonsky combines all the best qualities that can be imagined in a wise man, a brave fighter, and a loving person. He is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of a great goal, has a philosophical attitude towards life, and at the same time is capable of deeply loving, and sincere friendship, and admitting his mistakes, and forgiving other people, which reveals him as a person of extraordinary generosity and kindness.
I believe that in his novel Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy sought to show readers what a real hero should be. Of course, the image of Andrei Bolkonsky cannot be called idealized - he is the same person as each of us, prone to introspection, and to some uncertainty, and to mental torment, but he has an inner core that can be called both willpower and strong character and iron will. This is what allows Bolkonsky to go his own way, delighting and inspiring other people, showing how important and how correct it is to be a good person, living in harmony with his conscience and his heart.
Option 2
Bolkonsky is one of the main characters of the work, through whose example the writer introduces readers to the fate of Russian people during the Russian-French war.
Going to a military battle, Bolkonsky dreams of gaining military glory and human love, since social life seems empty and worthless to him, and officer service opens up bright prospects for him and the opportunity to realize his ambitions.
Having served as Kutuzov's adjutant and been wounded, Andrei rethinks his own life and priorities in it; he is severely disappointed in Napoleon, whom he previously considered a great commander and admired for his military exploits, but now sees as a petty, insignificant, worthless person. Having recovered from his wound, Bolkonsky decides to leave the service and devote his life to his family, but the sad news awaits him that his wife died in childbirth.
With the help of a friend, Pierre Bezukhov, who convinces Andrei to continue to live on and fight excruciating suffering, Bolkonsky recovers from a life blow and meets his true love in the person of the pure, young and purposeful Natasha Rostova. The lovers get engaged, but Natasha's accidental flirtation, which Bolkonsky cannot understand and forgive, leads to their separation and dissolution of the engagement.
Andrei returns to the scene of hostilities again, no longer having any ambitious plans for his military honors; his main desire is to protect his native land and Russian people from the French invaders. At the front, Bolkonsky does not shy away from ordinary people, he cares about his colleagues, people are proud of their officer, admire and love him.
During the Battle of Borodino, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is seriously wounded, which becomes fatal for him. Andrei accepts death calmly; it did not frighten him. The prince dies with the consciousness of fulfilling his duty to his homeland, thoughts of a life not lived in vain and true sincere love experienced. Seeing his beloved again before his death and forgiving her for betrayal, Bolkonsky feels again that enthusiastic feeling of revived love, which no longer has a future, but Andrei is still happy, because he has a road to eternity ahead of him.
Essay Image of Andrei Bolkonsky
The work of Lev Nikolaevich is the greatest value in world literature. His rare gift of writing allows him to guide the reader through joy and sorrow, through love and betrayal, through war and peace, and to show in the smallest detail the development of the inner world of each of his heroes. By reading Tolstoy, you begin to better understand the dual nature of the human soul and learn to realize the consequences of your actions in advance. One careless word can destroy someone's life, and for a moment of weakness you will have to pay for many years.
My most valuable literary image is the noble Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. He is a man of his word, a man of honor and a man of action. Tolstoy honored him with a short but bright life. By right of birth, Prince Andrei belonged to the elite of society. He was handsome, smart, educated, had a beautiful wife and all the accompanying benefits of high society. But this did not please young Bolkonsky; he considered such a life boring and meaningless. He dreamed of great things that could benefit the whole country, so at the first opportunity he went to war.
Military everyday life, devoid of secular hypocrisy and idle tinsel, allows us to consider Prince Andrei as a real person with a strong character and an integral nature. He is a hero, he is a patriot. But the prince’s extremely integral worldview, built over many years, collapses in an instant. The sky destroys it. The eternal sky above the battlefield, the serene sky above the wounded hero. And all logical structures break down, forcing Andrei Bolkonsky to build a new theory of his existence. It’s so Tolstoyan, to take and destroy all the hero’s previous life guidelines in one shot. And then, after the war, there will be peace.
A wonderful world in which there is hope, love and young Natasha. She is so young that she has not yet seen either a war or a ball. It is a logical continuation of the blue sky, which told the prince about a new life, about a new world, where there are other simple human meanings. Not only the aristocratic public, but also ordinary people. Bolkonsky is interested in reform activities, but the bureaucratic machine quickly disappoints the big-thinking prince. In addition, the peaceful utopia of Andrei Bolkonsky is destroyed by the innocent Natasha Rostova.
This betrayal hurt the noble prince. The last peace of mind was given to Prince Andrei at the highest price. On his deathbed, he comes to a whole armful of new feelings that allow him to learn to forgive. Natasha, who has grown up and became familiar with betrayal and war, is caring for the terminally ill Andrei.
Why Tolstoy decided to kill my favorite hero remains a mystery to me. Apparently, to emphasize that a person cannot live in a too contrasting world of black and white thinking. Because life is precisely in the intervals between war and peace, where you need to be able to forgive, find compromises or answer for your thoughts to the fullest extent.
Looking at these words, you might think that these are completely different things. But in life it often happens that completely incompatible things happen together. And kindness and cruelty are no exception. So why do such different things come together?
Arina Petrovna is about 60 years old, she is gray-haired, but still cheerful and is an active leader who keeps a tight rein on the whole family. No one can do anything to oppose this tyranny and everyone submits to it.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is based on a simple storyline: it describes the unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185 by Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich together with his brother Vsevolod
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Any reader who thoughtfully delves into Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s legendary epic novel “War and Peace” encounters images of amazing heroes. One of these is Andrei Bolkonsky, an extraordinary man with a multifaceted character.
Description of Andrei Bolkonsky
“...Short stature, a very handsome young man with certain dry features,” is how Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy describes his hero when the reader first meets him at Anna Pavlovna Sherer’s evening. “Everything in his figure, from his tired, bored look to his quiet, measured step, represented the sharpest contrast with his little, lively wife.
Apparently, everyone in the living room was not only familiar to him, but he was so tired of it that looking at them and listening to them was very boring for him...” Most of all, the young man was bored when he saw his wife’s face.
It would seem that nothing at this evening could lift the young man’s spirits, and he perked up only when he saw his friend Pierre Bezukhov. From this we can conclude that Andrey values friendship.
The young Prince Bolkonsky is characterized by such qualities as nobility, respect for elders (it is enough to see how he loved his father, calling him “You, father ...”), as well as education and patriotism.
There will come a time of difficult trials in his destiny, but for now he is a young man who is loved and accepted by secular society.
Thirst for fame and subsequent disappointment
Andrei Bolkonsky's values gradually change throughout the novel War and Peace. At the beginning of the work, an ambitious young man strives at all costs to gain human recognition and glory as a brave warrior. “I love nothing but fame, human love. Death, wounds, loss of family, nothing scares me,” he exclaims, wanting to go to war with Napoleon.
We invite you to read Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”
Social life seems empty to him, but the young man wants to be useful to society. At first he serves as Kutuzov’s adjutant, but in the Battle of Austerlitz he is wounded and ends up in the hospital. The family considers Andrei missing, but for Bolkonsky himself this time has become very important for reassessment of values. The young man is disappointed in his former idol Napoleon, seeing him as a worthless man rejoicing in the death of people.
“At that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a small, insignificant person in comparison with what was now happening between his soul and this high, endless sky with clouds running across it.” Now that Bolkonsky’s goal in life - to achieve fame and recognition - has collapsed, the hero is overcome by strong emotional experiences.
Having recovered, he decides not to fight anymore, but to devote himself to his family. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Another shock
The next blow for Andrei Bolkonsky was the death during childbirth of his wife Elizabeth. If it were not for the meeting with his friend Pierre Bezukhov, who tried to convince him that life is not over, and he needs to fight, despite the trials, it would have been much more difficult for the hero to survive such grief. “I live and this is not my fault, therefore, I need to live until death somehow better, without interfering with anyone,” he lamented, sharing his experiences with Pierre.
But, thanks to the sincere support of a comrade, who convinced his friend that “you have to live, you have to love, you have to believe,” the hero of the novel survived. During this difficult period, Andrei not only gained courage in his soul, but also met his long-awaited love.
For the first time, Natasha and Andrei meet at the Rostov estate, where the prince comes to spend the night. Disappointed in life, Bolkonsky understands that finally the happiness of true and bright love has smiled on him.
A pure and purposeful girl opened his eyes to the fact that he needed to live for the people, do good for those around him. A new, hitherto unknown to him, feeling of love flared up in Andrei’s heart, which Natasha shared.
They got engaged, and maybe would have become a wonderful couple. But circumstances intervened again. A fleeting hobby appeared in the life of Andrei’s beloved, which led to disastrous consequences. It seemed to her that she had fallen in love with Anatoly Kuragin, and although the girl later repented of her betrayal, Andrei could no longer forgive her and treat her the same way. “Of all the people, I have never loved or hated anyone more than her,” he admitted to his friend Pierre. The engagement was called off.
Death of Andrei in the War of 1812
Going to the next war, Prince Bolknonsky no longer pursues ambitious plans. His main goal is to protect his homeland and his people from the attacking enemy. Now Andrei is fighting alongside ordinary people, soldiers and officers, and does not consider this shameful. “...He was entirely devoted to the affairs of his regiment, he was caring for his people and officers and affectionate with them. In the regiment they called him our prince, they were proud of him and loved him...” writes Leo Tolstoy, characterizing his favorite hero.
The wound in the Battle of Borodino was fatal for Prince Andrei.
Already in the hospital, he meets with his former lover Natasha Rostova, and feelings between them flare up with renewed vigor. “...Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else…” he admits.
However, this revived love does not stand a chance, because Bolkonsky is dying. The devoted girl spends the last days of Andrei’s life next to him.
He not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown, distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt...”
This is how the earthly life of Andrei Bolkonsky ended sadly. He experienced many sorrows and troubles, but the path to eternity opened ahead.
If it weren't for the war...
Every thoughtful reader can conclude: how much grief and misfortune the war brought to humanity. After all, if it were not for the mortal wound that Andrei received on the battlefield, perhaps their love with Natasha Rostova would have had a happy continuation. After all, they loved each other so much and could symbolize the ideal of family relationships. But, alas, man does not spare his own kind and absurd confrontations claim many lives of people who, if they remained alive, could bring considerable benefit to the Fatherland.
It is this idea that runs through the entire work of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
