Platon Karataev in the novel “War and Peace”: image and characteristics, description of the portrait. The significance of Platon Karataev in the worldview of Pierre Korotaev: war and peace
"War and Peace"
tenacious Tikhon Shcherbaty, but also the “tenderly melodious” Platon Karataevs, bearers of life-giving love and goodness, without whom the world became “meaningless rubbish.” They restore faith in the value of life and bring light into the souls of people broken by senseless cruelty, and thereby save them morally. The Karataevs' mission is great. The post-war activity of Pierre Bezukhov became possible only after acquiring that inner harmony which he survived in captivity. We cannot agree with V. Kamyanov that Pierre’s meeting with Karataev turned “spiritually and especially intellectually into a period of passive contemplation.”
“Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre’s soul the strongest and dear memory and the personification of everything Russian, good and round,” “the incomprehensible, round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth.” Pierre understood this “round” in Karataev as calm and completion, as agreement with oneself, complete peace of mind and complete inner freedom. “And it was at this very time that he received that peace and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly strived before. For a long time in his life he searched with different sides this calmness, agreement with himself, what so struck him in the soldiers in the Battle of Borodino - he looked for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the dispersion of social life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love to Natasha; he sought this through thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him.
" He found this “calmness,” that is, complete moral freedom, while living among the people, soldiers and prisoners. It is this “calmness”, i.e. the deepest inner world, makes Pierre Bezukhov spiritually related to the people. The feeling in oneself of the precious gift of inner freedom, Tolstoy shows, is due to the confluence of life circumstances: “Pierre learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs, and that all misfortune comes not from lack, but from excess.” According to the writer, “an excess of the comforts of life destroys all the happiness of satisfying needs.” The moral and psychological states of Pierre Bezukhov, torn from the usual conditions of an idle lordly life, are associated with a feeling of inner spiritual freedom. These states are clearly not covered by the influences of external social historical world: “The more difficult his situation became, the more terrible the future was, the more, regardless of the situation in which he was, joyful and soothing thoughts, memories and ideas came to him.” Pierre Bezukhov accepted the mental health of the people, agreement with themselves, and the ability to spiritually overcome circumstances. The defenders of Russia discovered moral strength and civic courage. Again, the “secret” of combining the consciousness of freedom with the law of necessity, the meeting of external and internal determinants, is revealed.
“hidden warmth of patriotism”, devotion to the homeland, inseparability with it. If in the aristocratic salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer the Russian hero, due to his simplicity and enthusiasm, seemed something out of character for the place, then among the soldiers he was perceived as a hero: “The very properties of him that, in the world in which he lived before, were for him, if not harmful, then shy - his strength, disregard for the comforts of life, absent-mindedness, simplicity, here, among these people, gave him the position of almost a hero. And Pierre felt that this look obliged him.”
desired inner freedom. Then, throughout the rest of his life, “Pierre thought and spoke with delight about this month of captivity, about those irrevocable, strong and joyful sensations and, most importantly, about that complete peace of mind, oh perfect inner freedom which he experienced only at this time." The turning point experienced in captivity boils down to “a new, untested feeling of joy and strength of life.”
“almost the extreme limits of hardship that a person can endure,” with his whole being comes to an understanding of life as the highest good and possible harmony on earth. Life in his perception is love, that is, God: “And again someone, whether he himself or someone else,” said to him in a dream: “Life is everything. Life is God. Everything moves and moves, and this movement is God. And as long as there is life, there is the pleasure of self-consciousness of the deity. Love life, love God. It is most difficult and most blissful to love this life in one’s suffering, in the innocence of suffering.” The writer conveys the dialectic of life itself in this depiction of the severe physical suffering of Pierre Bezukhov, which, however, led him to affirmation of life.
Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “I have always considered life to be the greatest blessing, for which one cannot be sufficiently grateful. The longer I live and the closer I come to death, the stronger and stronger the consciousness of this good becomes in me.” Pierre's philosophical reflections in a dream are close to Tolstoy, which is also confirmed by the content of his philosophical treatises and, above all, “Confession”. Here Tolstoy rejected speculative philosophy with its assertion that “the world is something infinite and incomprehensible,” the pessimistic answers of the “wise” (Socrates, Buddha, Schopenhauer), who considered life to be meaningless. He contrasted all these abstract abstract conclusions, as well as the inescapable melancholy of the “idle,” with the spiritual culture of the patriarchal Russian peasant and fully shared his naive faith and optimistic recognition of life as an absolute value, the timeless significance of man. He preferred the “faith” of Russian peasant workers to the “reason” of the wise.
The question of the meaning of life was resolved by Tolstoy from religious and moral positions. Life for him is meaningless and absurd if it is devoid of absolute spiritual content, and becomes an expression of higher wisdom and expediency if it is illuminated by higher consciousness. If a person’s mind and himself are the result of a “temporary random cohesion of particles,” then life is meaningless and therefore goodness in this case loses its power. Therefore, Tolstoy’s moral teaching about man and the norms of his behavior is inextricably linked with the solution of a philosophical question. In the treatise “What is my faith?” Tolstoy writes about this issue like this: “The teaching of Christ, like any religious teaching, contains two sides:
an explanation of why people need to live this way and not otherwise is a metaphysical teaching. One is the effect and at the same time the cause of the other.” The unity of the “metaphysical” and “moral” teachings about human life is affirmed.
Spiritual quests of Pierre Bezukhov.
Lessons from Platon Karataev
(based on volume IV of L. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”)
Goals and objectives of the lesson:
1. Understanding spiritually moral quest Pierre Bezukhov, among their results.
2. Awareness of the role of Platon Karataev in the novel by L. Tolstoy.
3. Comprehension of “folk thought” in the novel.
4. Introducing students to the philosophical and religious-moral quests of L. Tolstoy, embodied in the novel “War and Peace” in the images of Pierre Bezukhov and Platon Karataev.
5. Spiritual and moral education of high school students.
Epigraph to the lesson: Don’t you know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God lives in you?
(I Cor. 3:16).
Lesson equipment:
1. Ondarchuk “War and Peace” (4 episodes, min. 37-40).
2. CD “Cyril and Methodius”. Literature. Grade 10 . Lesson.
3. Simulator “Restore in chronological stages” life's quest Pierre Bezukhov."
Lesson plan written on the board:
1. Spiritual quest of Pierre Bezukhov before meeting Platon Karataev.
2. Platon Karataev is the embodiment of the folk spirit in the novel.
3. Changes that occurred in Pierre after the meeting with Karataev.
4. The result of the spiritual quest of Pierre Bezukhov.
Teacher's word.
Goals and objectives of the lesson. Lesson plan, recording it in notebooks.
As is known, L. Tolstoy’s relationship with Christianity and Russian Orthodox Church were complex and dramatic, the writer questioned everything, including Christian dogmas: God is Trinity. The pages of the novel “War and Peace” reflect the philosophical, religious and moral quests of the writer, which we want to understand.
at the height of the Crimean War, in March 1855, he wrote in his diary that he felt able to devote his life to the implementation of a great and enormous thought: “This thought is the foundation of a new religion, corresponding to the development of mankind, the religion of Christ, but purified from faith and mystery , a practical religion that does not promise future bliss, but gives bliss on earth.” Three years before his death, L. Tolstoy felt, in his words, “obligated” to correct Christ, Confucius, Buddha, “because they lived 3-5 thousand years ago” and their teachings are outdated. But during the years of writing the novel “War and Peace” this was still far away. What were the writer’s views in the mid-60s, what religion, in his opinion, corresponded to the “development of mankind”, was “practical”, gave “bliss on earth”, made people happy?
, a theologian and researcher of Russian literature, in his book “Faith in the Crucible of Doubt” writes that L. Tolstoy in the novel, speaking about Christianity, does not mention Christ, but uses the word God, which has some uncertainty. “Of course, a historical epic is not a theological study. However, if God is constantly discussed in the work, then one cannot ignore the question: is this the Christian God-Trinity? According to the opinion, “Tolstoy’s God is not conceived in the space of one of the Christian dogmas.” And although on the pages of the novel “War and Peace” we often talk about gospel love, about God’s love, about swarm life, this is actually Tolstoy’s, and not a Christian, Orthodox understanding.
L. Tolstoy, as we see, while in search of a “practical” religion, thinking about what can make people happy, departs from the true Orthodox faith. His heroes, and above all Pierre Bezukhov, painfully reflect on the questions: what is life, death, man, God; what to love, what to hate; what is good and what is evil; why live? L. Tolstoy's favorite heroes live honestly, so they get confused, make mistakes, and are rarely happy.
We have already considered the topic of Pierre Bezukhov’s spiritual quest based on the material of volumes I, II, III of the epic novel. In the last volume of the novel, in a time of disaster and suffering of the people, in burned Moscow, in French captivity, these quests continue, the hero approaches the truth, as L. Tolstoy understood it.
Working with the class in the form of a conversation.
1. Using fragments of the novel, let's remember the stages of Pierre Bezukhov's spiritual quest. A simulator will help us with this, a chronological sequence of the hero’s quest compiled by the student, give a brief comment. Training apparatus.
2. How does Pierre appear before meeting Platon Karataev? In what distinctive features hero?
– The hero is distinguished by sincerity, naturalness, an inquisitive mind, and passion (for Napoleon, the Freemasons). At the same time, he is weak-willed and subject to the influence of others (Anatole, Dolokhov, Vasily Kuragin, Bazdeev). But the hero is critical of himself, reflects, repents, feels the need for moral self-improvement, and lives a painful but intense spiritual life. Pierre is selfless, spends money, and has a need to do good. During the general disaster in 1812, he longs to suffer, to make a sacrifice, to accomplish a feat. But Pierre is not satisfied with life, his existence is joyless, although he knows how to love and make friends.
3. What path does the hero’s development take?
– Along the path of getting closer to the people, recognizing the people, admiring them in the Battle of Borodino.
4. At what point in his life does Pierre Bezukhov meet Platon Karataev?
- After the execution of the arsonists, during the most difficult period, when the world for the hero collapsed and turned “into a heap of meaningless rubbish.” In him, “faith in the improvement of the world, and in humanity, and in his soul, and in God was destroyed.”
5. Tolstoy draws in the novel by Platon Karataev, we talked about it in the previous lesson. Let's see how he appears in the film by Sergei Bondurchuk performed by Mikhail Khrabrov. What did the great director and actor emphasize when presenting the hero?
– Sergei Bondarchuk treats L. Tolstoy’s text very carefully. He accurately conveys the setting and atmosphere of the meeting: the barn; Pierre's depression and Plato's tenderness, gentleness, warmth, his helpfulness, caring. The hero's voice is quiet and soulful. The speech is sprinkled with proverbs and sayings, from which one emanates faith in the best, optimism, and tranquility. The episode from the film makes a strong impression.
6. Let us turn to the slide dedicated to Platon Karataev. The authors of the program “Cyril and Methodius” give their interpretation of the image of the hero. How is it different from ours? What's new in it for us?
– We didn’t talk about the fact that Karataev abandoned his own “I”; there is no egoism in him, no concentration on himself, his experiences. Understanding reality is also alien to him; he makes no attempt to change anything in the world around him. “Not by our mind, but by God’s judgment.” This distinguishes him from Pierre. He loves everyone equally and sees God in everyone. Plato became Pierre's salvation.
7. How did Pierre Bezukhov change under the influence of Platon Karataev? (Analysis of Chapter 11-12, Part II, Volume IV)
- He has changed beyond recognition appearance, first of all, the costume: a dirty, torn shirt, soldier’s trousers tied at the ankles with strings for warmth, a caftan, a peasant’s hat.
- The hero has changed physically: he didn’t seem fat, but he retained “the appearance of largeness and strength, hereditary in their breed.” A beard, mustache, “tangled hair on the head, filled with lice.” Feet are bare.
- The expression of the eyes changed: “firm, calm and animatedly ready, such as I had never had before.” One could feel energy and readiness for activity in one’s appearance.
– Pierre’s mood became different: he moved his bare feet with pleasure. A “smile of animation and self-satisfaction” appeared on his face. Pleasant memories of what he had experienced over the past 4 weeks lived in his soul.
– Emphasizing the changes in his hero, L. Tolstoy paints two landscapes in his perception. Before his captivity, Pierre did not notice nature, as well as life around him, and was immersed in the world of his own doubts and thoughts. What is noteworthy is that the morning landscape, the domes of the Novodevichy Convent, “frosty dew on the dusty grass,” “touch fresh air", the cry of the jackdaws, the splashing rays of the sun evoked in the hero "a feeling of joy and strength of life that he had never experienced"
– In the chapter, the author gives direct assessments of his hero, characterizing him internal state. Pierre got it peace and contentment himself, which he had vainly strived for before.” " Calm and agreement with himself,” that he so admired the hero in the soldiers in the Battle of Borodino, he felt in himself.
– Pierre overestimated his former self: it was naive, as it now seemed to him, to seek harmony with himself in philanthropy, Freemasonry, in love for Natasha. “His intention to beat Napoleon now seemed incomprehensible and even ridiculous to him”; his hatred of his wife and excessive concern for the secret of his name seemed “not only insignificant, but also funny.”
– The hero was so immersed in the process of survival that he did not care about the war with the French, about the fate of Russia, although before his captivity, before meeting Platon Karataev, he liked to reflect on the fate of the world. “It was obvious to him that all this did not concern him, that he was not called and therefore could not judge all this.”
– Pierre acquired a new idea of happiness. “The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of needs and, as a result, the freedom to choose occupations, that is, the way of life, now seemed to Pierre to be the undoubted and highest happiness of a person.” He appreciated the pleasure of food, drink, sleep, warmth, conversation with a person when all this was needed.
– Immersion in natural life changed the attitude of others towards Pierre. If earlier the St. Petersburg society laughed at him, now he was respected by both the French and his own; he seemed to them “a somewhat mysterious and superior being.” He had “the position of almost a hero.”
8. What changes occurred in French soldiers and officers after leaving Mosca?
“Viciousness and cruelty appeared in them. Pierre felt this; he realized the mysterious and fatal force that controlled people, horses, and events. It was this hero who felt that the fatal force was opposed by “the strength and power of life.”
9. How does the hero behave when the French show cruelty towards him?
- Pierre laughs. He utters, at first glance, strange words: “They caught me, they locked me up. They are holding me captive. Who me? Me? Me - my immortal soul!
10. What meaning does the hero put into these words?
– He feels God in his soul. He's not afraid of anything. He acquired this feeling thanks to Platon Karataev. He began to feel like a part of God's world. “Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the receding, playing stars. And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me! ... And they caught all this and put it in a booth fenced off with boards!”
Analysis of Chapter XII of the 3rd part of the third volume.
to the question: how did Pierre Bezukhov react to the death of Platon Karataev? Why?
How does Pierre appear in the epilogue of the novel?
The appearance of Platon Karataev is traditionally associated with one of the stages of Pierre’s spiritual quest. A meeting with a peasant in a soldier’s overcoat meant for Bezukhov an introduction to folk wisdom, a rapprochement with ordinary people, finding “peace and self-satisfaction, which he had vainly strived for before,” mental freedom and peace.
Plato belongs to the world of the peasant community. His appearance is not individualized, emphatically devoid of any personal characteristics, because Karataev lives in complete harmony with the whole world. He feels like a part of a single and harmonious natural organism, “a part of the whole”: “His life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life.” This hero is devoid of selfish desires, subordinate to some higher mind, which created everything and for everything to the respondent. Platon Karataev lives easily and joyfully. The desire to change the surrounding reality, to remake it in accordance with some abstract ideals is alien to him.
The meaning of existence for Platon Karataev is a joyful feeling of merging with the world. His attitude to life is expressed in a single word - love. Karataev did not have “affection, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them,” but “loved and lived lovingly with everything that his life brought him together.” This deep Christian feeling was the essence of Plato’s soul, the essence people's soul. Karataev meekly accepts everything that is sent down from above. Karataev does not dare to demand anything from life. Tolstoy’s “man of God” is meek and happy with the little he has. Even anticipating the approach of death, he does not lose the feeling of “ecstatic joy.”
In their own way, Karataev’s wonderful ideas are opposite to the idea of movement, development, intense search for truth, which Bezukhov lived by. Plato appeared to Pierre at a terrible moment and restored the hero’s faith “in the betterment of the world, and in humanity, and in his soul, and in God.” This meeting healed the young Count Bezukhov. The soldier forces Pierre to look at the world again brightly and joyfully, to believe in goodness, love, and justice. As a result of communicating with Platon Karataev, Pierre finds “that calmness and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly strived before,” he “... learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in satisfaction of natural human needs..."
The end of moral quests; harmony and satisfaction in Pierre's life.
Pierre Bezukhov always looked for the answer to the question: “What is the meaning of life?” “He looked for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the distraction of social life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha. He sought this through thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him.” The hero naturally comes to the ideas of the Decembrists, enters a secret society in order to fight against everything that interferes with life and humiliates the honor and dignity of a person.
At the end of the novel we see happy person, which one good family, a faithful and devoted wife who loves and is loved. Thus, it is Pierre Bezukhov who achieves spiritual harmony with the world around him and with himself in “War and Peace”.
Chapter XII
After the execution, Pierre was separated from the other defendants and left alone in a small, ruined and polluted church.
Before evening, a guard non-commissioned officer with two soldiers entered the church and announced to Pierre that he had been forgiven and was now entering the barracks of prisoners of war. Not understanding what they told him, Pierre got up and went with the soldiers. He was led to booths built at the top of a field of charred boards, logs and planks and led into one of them. There are twenty people in the dark different people Pierre was surrounded. Pierre looked at them, not understanding who these people were, why they were and what they wanted from him. He heard the words that were spoken to him, but did not draw any conclusion or application from them: he did not understand their meaning. He himself answered what was asked of him, but he did not understand who was listening to him and how his answers would be understood. He looked at the faces and figures, and they all seemed equally meaningless to him.
From the moment Pierre saw this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do it, it was as if the spring on which everything was held and seemed alive was suddenly pulled out in his soul, and everything fell into a heap of meaningless rubbish. In him, although he was not aware of it, faith in the good order of the world, in humanity, in his soul, and in God was destroyed. Pierre had experienced this state before, but never with such force as now. Previously, when such doubts were found on Pierre, these doubts had their source in his own guilt. And in the very depths of his soul Pierre then felt that from that despair and those doubts there was salvation in himself. But now he felt that it was not his fault that the world had collapsed in his eyes and that only meaningless ruins remained. He felt that returning to faith in life was not in his power. People stood around him in the darkness: it was true that something interested them very much in him. They told him something, asked him about something, then took him somewhere, and he finally found himself in the corner of the booth next to some people talking from different sides, laughing.
And so, my brothers... that same prince who (with special emphasis on the word which)... - said someone’s voice in the opposite corner of the booth.
Sitting silently and motionless against the wall on the straw, Pierre first opened and then closed his eyes. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw before him the same terrible, especially terrible in its simplicity, face of the factory worker and even more terrible in its anxiety faces of unwitting killers. And he again opened his eyes and looked senselessly in the darkness around him.
Sitting next to him, bent over, was some small man, whose presence Pierre noticed at first by the strong smell of sweat that separated from him with every movement. This man was doing something in the dark with his legs, and, despite the fact that Pierre could not see his face, he felt that this man was constantly looking at him. Looking closely in the darkness, Pierre realized that this man had taken off his shoes. And the way he did it interested Pierre.
Unwinding the twine with which one leg was tied, he carefully rolled up the twine and immediately began working on the other leg, looking at Pierre. While one hand was hanging the twine, the other was already beginning to unwind the other leg. Thus, carefully, with round, spore-like movements, without slowing down one after another, the man took off his shoes, hung his shoes on pegs driven over his heads, took out a knife, cut something, folded the knife, put it under the head of the head and, sitting down better, he hugged his raised knees with both hands and stared straight at Pierre. Pierre felt something pleasant, soothing and round in these controversial movements, in this comfortable household in his corner, in the smell even of this man, and he, without taking his eyes off, looked at him.
Have you seen many needs, master? A? - the little man suddenly said.
And there was such an expression of affection and simplicity in the man’s melodious voice that Pierre wanted to answer, but his jaw trembled and he felt tears. The little man at that very second, not giving Pierre time to show his embarrassment, spoke in the same pleasant voice.
“Eh, falcon, don’t worry,” he said with that tenderly melodious caress with which old Russian women speak. - Don’t worry, my friend: endure for an hour, but live for a century! That's it, my dear. And we live here, thank God, there is no resentment. “There are also good and bad people,” he said and, while still speaking, with a flexible movement he bent over to his knees, stood up and, clearing his throat, went somewhere.
Look, you rascal, she's come! - Pierre heard the same gentle voice at the end of the booth. - She came, the rogue, she remembers! Well, well, you will. - And the soldier, pushing away the little dog that was jumping towards him, returned to his place and sat down. He had something wrapped in a rag in his hands.
Here, eat, master,” he said, again returning to his former respectful tone and unwrapping and handing Pierre several baked potatoes. - There was stew at lunch. And the potatoes are important!
Pierre had not eaten all day, and the smell of potatoes seemed unusually pleasant to him. He thanked the soldier and began to eat.
Well, is that so? - the soldier said smiling and took one of the potatoes. - And that’s how you are. - He took out a folding knife again, cut the potatoes into equal two halves in his palm, sprinkled salt from a rag and brought it to Pierre.
“The potatoes are important,” he repeated. You eat like this.
It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten a dish tastier than this.
No, I don’t care,” said Pierre, “but why did they shoot these unfortunates!.. Last years twenty.
Tch, tch... - said the little man. “It’s a sin, it’s a sin...” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and accidentally flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, master, you’re in Moscow like that?” remained?
I didn't think they would come so soon. “I accidentally stayed,” said Pierre.
But how did they take you, falcon, from your house?
No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me and tried me for an arsonist.
“Where there is court, there is no truth,” the little man interjected.
How long have you been here? - asked Pierre, chewing the last potato.
Me? That Sunday they took me from the hospital in Moscow.
Soldiers of the Absheron Regiment. He was dying of fever. They didn't tell us anything. About twenty of us were lying there. And they didn’t think, they didn’t guess.
Well, are you bored here? - asked Pierre.
How boring it is, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev’s nickname,” he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to address him. - They called him Falcon in the service. How not to be bored, falcon! Moscow, she is the mother of cities. How not to get bored looking at this. Yes, the worm gnaws at the cabbage, but before that you disappear: that’s what the old men used to say,” he added quickly.
How, how did you say that? - asked Pierre.
Me? - asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God’s judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what had been said. And he immediately continued: “How come you, master, have estates?” And there is a house? Therefore, the cup is full! And is there a hostess? Are your old parents still alive? - he asked, and although Pierre could not see in the darkness, he felt that the soldier’s lips were wrinkled with a restrained smile of affection while he was asking this.
He was apparently upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother.
A wife for advice, a mother-in-law for greetings, and nothing sweeter than your own mother! - he said. - Well, do you have any children? - he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again apparently upset him, and he hastened to add: “Well, there will be young people, God willing.” If only I could live in the council...
“It doesn’t matter now,” Pierre said involuntarily.
“Eh, you’re a dear person,” Plato objected. - Never give up money or prison. “He sat down better and cleared his throat, apparently preparing for a long story. “So, my dear friend, I still lived at home,” he began. - Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the men live well, and our home, thank God. Father himself went out to mow. We lived well. They were real Christians. It happened... - and Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to someone else’s grove behind the forest and was caught by a watchman, how he was whipped, tried and made a soldier. “Well, falcon,” he said, his voice changing with a smile, “we thought grief, but joy!” My brother should go, if it were not for my sin. And the younger brother has five boys, and look, I have only one soldier left. There was a girl, and God took care of her even before she became a soldier. I came on leave, I’ll tell you. I see they live better than before. The yard is full of bellies, women are at home, two brothers are at work. Only Mikhailo, the youngest, is at home. Father says: “All children are equal to me: no matter what finger you bite, everything hurts. If only Plato hadn’t been shaved then, Mikhail would have gone.” He called us all - believe me - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and your grandchildren bow. Got it? speaks. That's right, my dear friend. Rock is looking for his head. And we judge everything: sometimes it’s not good, sometimes it’s not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it, it swells, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing. So that. - And Plato sat down on his straw.
After being silent for some time, Plato stood up.
Well, I have tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to cross himself, saying:
Lord Jesus Christ, Nikola the saint, Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, Nikola the saint! Frol and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, stood up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. “Put it down, God, like a pebble, lift it up like a ball,” he said and lay down, pulling on his overcoat.
What prayer were you reading? - asked Pierre.
Ass? - said Plato (he had already fallen asleep). - Read what? I prayed to God. Don't you ever pray?
No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frol and Lavra?
“But what about,” Plato quickly answered, “a horse festival.” And we must feel sorry for the livestock,” said Karataev. - Look, the rogue has curled up. She got warm, the son of a bitch,” he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning around again, immediately fell asleep.
Outside, crying and screams could be heard somewhere in the distance, and fire could be seen through the cracks of the booth; but in the booth it was quiet and dark. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and, with open eyes, lay in his place in the darkness, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who lay next to him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations .
Chapter XIII
In the booth into which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials.
All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre’s soul as the strongest and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, his back, chest, shoulders , even the hands that he wore, as if always about to hug something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a long-time soldier. He himself did not know and could not determine in any way how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which kept rolling out in their two semicircles when he laughed (which he often did), were all good and intact; no one gray hair was not in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.
His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But main feature his speech consisted of spontaneity and argument. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and because of this, the speed and fidelity of his intonations had a special irresistible persuasiveness.
His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that it seemed that he did not understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day, morning and evening, when he lay down, he said: “Lord, lay it down like a pebble, lift it up into a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he said: “I lay down and curled up, got up and shook myself.” And indeed, as soon as he lay down, he immediately fell asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, in order to immediately, without a second of delay, take up some task, like children, getting up, taking up their toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, cooked, sewed, planed, and made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself conversations, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not as songwriters sing, who know that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because he needed to make these sounds just as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, gentle, almost feminine, mournful, and at the same time his face was very serious.
Having been captured and grown a beard, he apparently threw away everything alien and soldierly that had been imposed on him, and involuntarily returned to his former, peasant, folk mindset.
A soldier on leave is a shirt made of trousers,” he used to say. He was reluctant to talk about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that throughout his service he was never beaten. When he spoke, he mainly spoke from his old and, apparently, dear memories of “Christian”, as he pronounced it, peasant life. The sayings that filled his speech were not those, mostly indecent and glib sayings that soldiers say, but they were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken in isolation, and which suddenly take on the meaning of deep wisdom when they are spoken opportunely. Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, decorating his speech with endearments and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he was inventing himself; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that Pierre saw without noticing them, took on the character of solemn beauty. He loved to listen to fairy tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same ones), but most of all he loved to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and making questions that tended to clarify for himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Karataev had no attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him to, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mongrel, he loved his comrades, the French, he loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, despite all his affectionate tenderness towards him (with which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre’s spiritual life), would not for a minute be upset by separation from him. And Pierre began to feel the same feeling towards Karataev.
Platon Karataev was for all the other prisoners the most ordinary soldier; his name was Falcon or Platosha, they mocked him good-naturedly and sent him for parcels. But for Pierre, as he presented himself on the first night, an incomprehensible, round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth, that is how he remained forever. Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart except his prayer. When he gave his speeches, he, starting them, seemed not to know how he would end them.
When Pierre, sometimes amazed at the meaning of his speech, asked him to repeat what he had said, Plato could not remember what he had said a minute ago, just as he could not tell Pierre his favorite song in words. It said: “darling, little birch and I feel sick,” but the words didn’t make any sense. He did not understand and could not understand the meaning of words taken separately from speech. His every word and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. She made sense only as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt. His words and actions poured out of him as uniformly, necessarily, and directly as a scent is released from a flower. He could not understand either the price or the meaning of a single action or word.
Essays on literature: Philosophy of life by Platon Karataev
Wise is the one who knows not much, but what is necessary
The wisdom of humanity is tolerance
“War and Peace” is a broad historical canvas, where the main character is the people. And L.N. Tolstoy himself writes about this in his diaries: “For a work to be good, you must love the main, fundamental idea in it. So... in “War and Peace” I loved popular thought.” According to the author, it is the masses who make history, not the army command and not the generals.
Plato is one of the representatives of the Russian peasantry. Pierre Bezukhov meets him in captivity. After he witnessed a terrible event - the execution of prisoners, Pierre lost faith in man, in the rationality of his actions. He is depressed. And it was the meeting in the barracks with Plato that brought Count Bezukhov back to life. “Next to him sat, bent over, some small man, whose presence Pierre noticed at first by the strong smell of sweat that separated from him with every movement.” Pierre watches as Plato unwinds the strings on his legs with confident “round” movements. The count and the man found themselves in the same position: they were prisoners. And in this situation it is necessary to remain human, to remain oneself, it is necessary to withstand and survive. This is exactly the type of survival that Pierre learns from Karataev.
Plato in Tolstoy - collective image, just like Tikhon Shcherbaty. It is no coincidence that when introducing himself to Pierre, he calls himself plural: “Soldiers of the Absheron Regiment... Call me Plato, Karataev’s nickname.” Karataev does not feel like a separate person, but part of the whole, part of the people: ordinary soldiers, the peasantry. His wisdom is contained in apt and succinct proverbs and sayings, behind each of which is an episode of the life of Platon Karataev. For example, “where there is justice, there is untruth.” He suffered from an unfair trial and was forced to serve in the army. However, Plato takes any twists of fate for granted; he is ready to sacrifice himself for the well-being of his family: “... we thought grief, but joy! My brother should go, if it were not for my sin. And the younger brother has five boys, and I, of course, have only one soldier left... Rock is looking for his head.”
Platon Karataev loves every person, every Living being, the whole world. It is no coincidence that he is affectionate with an ordinary stray dog; according to his philosophy, not only people, but “even cattle should be pitied.”
Plato was brought up in Christian traditions, and religion calls us to patience and obedience, to live “not by our mind, but God's judgment" Therefore, he never felt evil or resentment towards people. Since fate has turned out this way, then you need to honorably fulfill your military duty, defend your Motherland: “Moscow is the mother of all cities.” Plato is a patriot, Russia for him is his own mother, and for her sake one can give up his life. However, he does not hate his enemies. After all, wars are waged by politicians and emperors, what does a simple soldier have to do with it? And it’s equally hard for the prisoners, no matter which of the warring sides they represent. Plato happily sews shirts for the French and admires his work.
After meeting Karataev, Pierre begins to have a different attitude towards life, towards everything that happened to him. Plato for him is an ideal to follow. It is no coincidence that Pierre associates it with something “round”. Round means complete, formed, not taking other principles for granted, “the eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth.”
Of course, one may not agree with the life principles of Platon Karataev. It is not always necessary to unquestioningly submit to fate, to be a slave to life’s circumstances. But what is closest to me in the image of Karataev is his love for life, for the world, for all humanity. His philosophy is Christian philosophy. And religion helps any person live, no matter what difficult conditions he finds himself in, no matter what serious trials he faces. This folk wisdom shaped over centuries.
“But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. It made sense only as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt.”
Perhaps, like a soldier, Karataev is weak: a real warrior must, like Tikhon Shcherbaty, hate the enemy. And at the same time, Karataev is a patriot. But as a person, a personality, Plato is very strong and courageous. As Kutuzov said about the people in the novel: “Wonderful, incomparable people!” I think these words can be attributed to Platon Karataev and his life principles. If there were no people in the army who were ready not only to uncompromisingly beat the enemy, but also to have a philosophical attitude towards life’s difficulties and to find the strength to overcome them with dignity, then I think that without such soldiers Kutuzov would hardly have been able to defeat the ambitious Napoleon.
The Russian people made the same sacrifices in our recent history in order to defeat fascism.
