War and Peace: Volume 2, Part 5: Chapters 1–4 Summary & Analysis

After Prince Andrei and Natasha get engaged, Pierre feels like he can’t go on with life as it is. His mentor Iosif Alexeevich has died, and though Pierre remains convinced of the truths of Masonry, he now finds it pointless. He starts drinking and partying with bachelors again, and when Hélène reprimands him, he moves to Moscow in order to avoid these vices.

Arriving in Moscow, Pierre feels he’s come home again. He fits in here, embraced as a good-natured, generous eccentric. He supports every cause (though he’s broke), he’s the life of every party, and he charms ladies without flirting. Seven years ago, when he first came home to Russia, he would never have believed that life would turn out like this. He’d wanted to become a Napoleon-like figure, to perfect himself, and to liberate the peasants. Now he’s exactly the type of retired Moscow gentleman he once loved to denounce.

When he stops to think about it, Pierre senses that everybody else is aware of life’s fundamental hypocrisy, yet they refuse to acknowledge it. He suffers from a characteristically Russian belief in the existence of goodness and truth while simultaneously seeing evil and feeling powerless before it. So he passes his days in “chatter, reading, and wine.” After a couple bottles of wine, life’s questions no longer feel so terrifying.

That winter Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky comes to Moscow with Princess Marya. Emperor Alexander has fallen out of favor, and Prince Nikolai becomes a central figure in Moscow’s government opposition. He has aged significantly and lately shows signs of senility. Though outsiders still hold the Prince in awe, Princess Marya suffers under his rule. City life holds no joys for her, she attends no parties, and she has no suitors or friends. Even Mlle Bourienne has become disagreeable to her, and despite their long correspondence, Julie Karagin seems a stranger to her. (Julie is now a wealthy, eligible woman who spends most of her time on society pleasures.)

Prince Nikolai is always in a bad mood, and whenever Princess Marya tries to fulfill her promise to Andrei to prepare her father for Andrei’s marriage to Natasha, it goes poorly. Worse, as she tutors six-year-old Nikolushka, she sees her father’s angry traits in herself—she becomes impatient and punishes her nephew for the least failing. But the worst thing is her father’s cruelty. Because she knows that her father loves her, it makes his deliberate insults even worse. He also flirts with Mlle Bourienne in Marya’s presence to provoke her. All these sufferings cause “the pride of sacrifice” to develop in Marya. Yet, at the same time, when she sees her father’s frailty, she reproaches herself for judging him.

On the Prince’s name-day, he only wishes to receive a few specified guests. The list doesn’t include Métivier, a fashionable French doctor he’s lately befriended. But the doctor pushes past Princess Marya to visit the Prince, leading the Prince to an outburst of rage. He calls Métivier a French spy. After Métivier leaves, Prince Nikolai storms at Princess Marya. He says he can’t have a moment’s peace with her and that she must move out— “if only some fool would marry her!”

The nearly silent meal includes some political talk, with Prince Nikolai offering an occasional grunt in response. As the evening goes on, however, Prince Nikolai grows more animated on the subject of Bonaparte. He says there’s no need to meddle in European politics, but simply to maintain armed borders against Napoleon. Count Rastopchin agrees, adding that nobody dares oppose the French these days— “the French are [Russia’s] gods, and our kingdom of heaven is Paris.” Prince Nikolai approves of his friend’s words.

Princess Marya doesn’t pay much attention to the conversation. After the other guests have gone, Pierre sits and talks with Marya. He warns her that Boris has come to Moscow with the express goal of marrying a rich wife, and he’s torn between pursuing her or Julie Karagin. Marya doesn’t really care about that, but she longs to confide her unhappiness in Pierre because he’s so kind to her. They talk about her father’s ultimatum to Prince Andrei, and Marya asks Pierre what Natasha Rostov is like. Pierre can only say she’s “enchanting.” Marya plans to get to know Natasha in hopes of reconciling her father to this future daughter-in-law.