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| ] as Pierre Bezukhov in '']'']] | ] as Pierre Bezukhov in '']'']] | ||
| Count '''Pyotr "Pierre" Kirilovich Bezukhov''' ({{lang-ru|Пьер Безухов, Пётр Кириллович Безухов}}, or ''Pierre Bezuhov'' according to Rosemary Edmonds translation) is a ] in ]'s novel ''''']'''''. He is |
Count (]) '''Pyotr "Pierre" Kirilovich Bezukhov''' ({{lang-ru|Пьер Безухов, Пётр Кириллович Безухов}}, or ''Pierre Bezuhov'' according to Rosemary Edmonds translation) is a ] in ]'s novel ''''']'''''. He is one of several illegitimate sons of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, a rich Russian nobleman famed for his extravagant lifestyle. | ||
| ==Description== | ==Description== | ||
| Pierre, whom many critics regard as a reflection of ] himself, |
Pierre, whom many critics regard as a reflection of ] himself {{fact}}, is awkward and regarded with some discomfort in by the Russian high society in whose circles he moves. At the opening of the novel, Pierre is a young man who has just returned to Russia after an education abroad. Whilst seeking a career, he has fallen in with a group of profligate young men. Though the attendees at Anna Pavlovna's party consider Pierre uncouth and awkward, this very awkwardness emphasizes his natural unpretentiousness. We see his love of fun in his expulsion from ] for excessive partying, and his generosity in his bank-breaking largesse toward friends and acquaintances following his inheritance. | ||
| Pierre, though intelligent, is not dominated by reason, as his friend Andrei is. Pierre’s emotional spurts occasionally get him into trouble, as when his sexual passions make him prey to the self-serving and beautiful Elena. He shoots her suspected lover, Dolohov, in a duel but then leaves his wife to her devices in order to become a ]. His madcap escape into the city of ] and his subsequent obsessive belief that he is destined to be ]’s assassin show his submission to irrational impulses. Yet there is also great nobility in Pierre’s emotions, and his search for meaning in his life becomes a central theme of the novel. We feel that his final marriage to ] represents the culmination of a life of moral and spiritual questioning. | Pierre, though intelligent, is not dominated by reason, as his friend Andrei is. Pierre’s emotional spurts occasionally get him into trouble, as when his sexual passions make him prey to the self-serving and beautiful Elena. He shoots her suspected lover, Dolohov, in a duel but then leaves his wife to her devices in order to become a ]. His madcap escape into the city of ] and his subsequent obsessive belief that he is destined to be ]’s assassin show his submission to irrational impulses. Yet there is also great nobility in Pierre’s emotions, and his search for meaning in his life becomes a central theme of the novel. We feel that his final marriage to ] represents the culmination of a life of moral and spiritual questioning. | ||
Revision as of 04:13, 21 May 2009
Count (Knyaz) Pyotr "Pierre" Kirilovich Bezukhov (Template:Lang-ru, or Pierre Bezuhov according to Rosemary Edmonds translation) is a central fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. He is one of several illegitimate sons of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, a rich Russian nobleman famed for his extravagant lifestyle.
Description
Pierre, whom many critics regard as a reflection of Tolstoy himself , is awkward and regarded with some discomfort in by the Russian high society in whose circles he moves. At the opening of the novel, Pierre is a young man who has just returned to Russia after an education abroad. Whilst seeking a career, he has fallen in with a group of profligate young men. Though the attendees at Anna Pavlovna's party consider Pierre uncouth and awkward, this very awkwardness emphasizes his natural unpretentiousness. We see his love of fun in his expulsion from St. Petersburg for excessive partying, and his generosity in his bank-breaking largesse toward friends and acquaintances following his inheritance.
Pierre, though intelligent, is not dominated by reason, as his friend Andrei is. Pierre’s emotional spurts occasionally get him into trouble, as when his sexual passions make him prey to the self-serving and beautiful Elena. He shoots her suspected lover, Dolohov, in a duel but then leaves his wife to her devices in order to become a Freemason. His madcap escape into the city of Moscow and his subsequent obsessive belief that he is destined to be Napoleon’s assassin show his submission to irrational impulses. Yet there is also great nobility in Pierre’s emotions, and his search for meaning in his life becomes a central theme of the novel. We feel that his final marriage to Natasha Rostova represents the culmination of a life of moral and spiritual questioning.
Reception
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere calls Pierre "one of the best known characters in world literature." Merriam-Webster lists him among "the most attractive and sympathetic characters in literature..." And M. Keith Booker describes Pierre as one of Tolstoy's "most memorable characters..."
References
- Daniel Rancour-Laferriere, Tolstoy's Pierre Bezukhov: A Psychoanalytic Study (Bristol Classical Press, 1993), vii.
- Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (Merriam-Webster, 1995), 1080.
- M. Keith Booker, Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: Censorship, Revolution, and Writing (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 718.
External links
- Template:Ru icon Pierre Bezukhov in the Encyclopedia of literary characters
- "Pierre Bezukhov (Character) from Voyna i mir (1967)," The Internet Movie Database
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