Compare And Contrast War And Peace By Leo Tolstoy

In Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Tolstoy presents Princess Marya Bolkonsky’s Christianity, Pierre Bezukhov’s Freemasonry, and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky’s “lofty skies” as a way to express the characters’ relief from conflict. Princess Marya applies her belief in Christianity to justify actions and to simplify matters to receive relief. When Princess Marya is first introduced, she is seen praying “that this daily meeting [geometry lesson with her father] would go well” (88). This supports the idea that she believes in Christianity which is further supported by the contents of the letters with Julie (90-96) which have multiple Christian references. The love Christ has shown her is seen when she does not get upset by her father’s mockery (482)
because she knows Christ suffered (she believes she needs to suffer as well). When she reflects on Princess Liza’s death (483), she realizes that “…His will is guided by His boundless love for us, and therefore everything that happens to us, everything, is for our own good.” Also, Princess Marya states that “…religion and religion alone can—I do not say comfort—but deliver us from despair; religion alone can explain to us that which man cannot understand with its help…” (483).
Princess Marya reflects on people’s action (486-487) and explains that people (including herself) succumb to earthly desires. To show that
Princess Marya’s belief in Christian was a “justification” to provide relief, the reader can see that when there was an absence of faith (713-714), she starts to have “temptations of the devil” and struggled with everyday worries. The relief she found in Christianity is seen even in the other characters--Prince Andrei, when he is taken by Napoleon’s men, reflects on how simple things seem to Princess Marya (293), and Nikolai’s reflection of how she treats the children illustrates his admiration for her spirituality (1172). Pierre uses Freemasonry as a guide to start a new life and to distract his everyday worries to receive relief.
Pierre’s conversation and induction to masonry (350-362) affects his decision on how to handle Prince Vassily which decided his fate (“whether he would follow the old former way, or the new one which had been shown to him so attractively by the Masons, and on which he firmly believed he would find rebirth into a new life”) (363). During Pierre’s conversation and induction, moments such as “…experienced a joyful feeling of peace, renewal, and return to life” (352), “No, I hate my life” (352), “Yes, I…I…want renewal” (356), and “…because at that moment he enjoyed feeling himself already fully set to rights from his former vices and ready only for the good” (357) show that Pierre is planning on starting a new life with Masonry. With his new perspective on life, Pierre returns home with big plans (377-381) but is then absorbed back into his lavish lifestyle only to return again to reconnect with Masonry. Once reconnected, Pierre visits Prince Andrei and has a discussion on Masonry (382-389) on what is just, life, and God. Pierre’s work in Masonry increases (433-436) as he travels to other lodges to learn more, and then is reprimanded for the “Illuminati” speech. This reprimanding causes Pierre to lose sight of the Masons and create turmoil in his life again (436-437), which is then fixed once he speaks with his mentor and rejuvenates his belief in Masonry again
(437-439). Pierre’s doubts start to show turmoil in his life (441-444). Pierre’s way of life and relief is shattered, and he returns to his previous way of life—“He ceased writing in his diary, avoided the company of the brothers, began going to the club again, began drinking heavily again, became close again with bachelor companies…” (535). Although Pierre has dropped the Masonry life, the Christian ideals (like Princess Marya) still provide relief—“To love life is to love God” (1064-1065) and “For us, with the measures of good and bad given us by Christ, nothing is immeasurable” (1070-1071). Prince Andrei uses the “lofty skies” to show a change in his character to receive relief. While Prince Andrei is laying on the grass, he looks at the sky and realizes “…everything is empty, everything is a deception, except this infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing except that. But there is not even that, there is nothing except silence, tranquility. And thank God!...” (281). When the soldiers (and Napoleon who is his hero) appeared, he did not think twice of it; he stirred for attention to be saved, but Napoleon was not a big deal like he had originally thought because his attention was now focused on the inner change (the relief) that the sky was providing (290-291). As mentioned previously, Prince Andrei had a discussion with Pierre about what is just, life, and God; this discussion brought the feeling Prince Andrei had with the skies back to life (granted, the feeling disappears when he returns to his previous habits, it did mark a new stage for his life) (389). He discretely helped Pierre in his Masonic ways of (418). The “transformation” of the oak tree also shows the reader how Prince Andrei’s views have changed—from bare and grief to blossoming and new—and makes him remember the skies and wants to spread the news of “No, life isn’t over at the age of thirty-one” (419-424). As the story continues to unfold, his character change and slow crawl into Christianity (as Princess Marya always had and Pierre eventually reached through Masonry) tipped when he saw Anatole in the dressing station (814). The love he found in that moment with Anatole is what he reasons with himself when “it” occurs (982-986) to find comfort in death. The sky was also significant to Pierre when he saw the comet because it showed him that was more to life and pushed his soul into a new direction of life (this was after Masonry) (600).