Life's Subjections: Changes To The Ways Of Life Found In Tolstoy's War And Peace War and Peace is a truly epic novel in that details a number of important themes as well as major events in the lives of its characters. In this respect it actually uncovers some of the most major events that are bound to take place throughout a person's life -- birth, death, marriage, divorce, war and peace. What makes this particular novel so compelling is the fact that it largely depicts these life altering events through the fates of a couple of aristocratic Russian families during the time in which the usurper Napoleon Bonaparte is wreaking havoc on the European continent in the early part of the 19th century. As such, there is a certain romantic quality to this tale and to the life-altering events it depicts of people who in some cases are noble personages and in others simply represent the upper echelon of Russian society around this time frame. Therefore, it is of critical importance to witness the perception of life that many of the Russian aristocratic characters in this novel perceive during these events that are transformative, to say the least. In many ways, the invasion of Napoleon's army and the eventual occupation of Russia that the French army was able to effect signified an end of the conventional ways of life as many of these rich Russians depicted in the novel saw it. For some, the end of their lives was symbolized by a loss of social eminence, land, and capital goods that were associated with their families for long periods of time. For others, the end of their lives was symbolized by the loss of institutions that were regarded as both sacred and fundamental to life itself (such as marriage). For still more others, the end of their lives took place in a much more literal sense and was created by the presence of death. In any case, the "character to the times" (Tolstoy 126) was changing. The major thematic issue covered in War and Peace is the breakdown of life as it was known at the time, a fact which symbolized by Napoleon's invasion, religious connotations and denotations, and the conception of love and marriage.

Perhaps the most tangible representation of life as the aristocracy depicted in Tolstoy's novel was known for was Napoleon's advances across Western Europe and which inevitably brought him to Russia. What was perhaps most frightening about Napoleon's military progress was his "control of events" (Southgate 235) and the fact that he was perceived as bringing about a new order that would transcend virtually all aspects of life. Specifically, with Napoleon having conquered all of Europe, he would function as a sole tyrant of this part of the world -- a fact which was virtually inconceivable to those who had the most to lose from such a reality, the wealthy. As such, it is not surprising that the many wealthy Russian characters in Tolstoy's work viewed Napoleon not only as socially and militarily repugnant, but as morally repugnant as well. The following quotation which is found at the beginning of this novel in which Anna Pavlovna Scherer addresses one of the princes of Russia readily confirms this fact. "…so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetuated by that Antichrist -- I really believe he is Antichrist" (Tolstoy). The diction in this passage indicates the moral gravity which Scherer attributes to Napoleon and implies the wide sweeping, life-altering changes she believes his presence is capable of. There was an "underlying chaos, of which only subsequent rationalizations can make sense" (Southgate 235) that partly terrified those who lived through Napoleon's time. It is highly significant that Scherer describes a man with military and global ambition in religious terms, and extremely disparaging ones at that. By referring to Napoleon as the "Antichrist," Scherer is suggesting that he has the possibility of dooming all of existence. Thus, it is clear that she believes that his military actions will bring about the end of life as she knows it -- indeed she seems to think that his actions will engender the end of life itself. Tolstoy employs religious diction to illustrate the fact that one of the major themes of this novel is the eradication of life as it was known at the time.

The incorporation of religion to signify that which is good with life -- and which Napoleon's invasion is intrinsically...

In this way, religion is actually one of the palpable demonstrations of the fact that life is irrevocably changing for the rich aristocracy in this novel. Whereas Napoleon's uprising is viewed as evil and a form in which life itself is changed for the worse, religion is used by Tolstoy to represent the old order or the familiar ways of life that are somehow changing for many of the characters rendered in this novel. This fact becomes manifest during the part of the novel in which Pierre is imprisoned and comes across a fellow prisoner by the name of Platon Karataev. Karataev is definitely a religious (Christian) person, and there are a number of positive connotations associated with this fact which the subsequent quotation, in which the author is describing him, readily shows. "When he related anything it was generally some old and evidently precious memory of his "Christian" life, as he called his peasant existence. The proverbs, of which his talk was full, were…sayings which…when used appositely…acquire…profound wisdom" (Tolstoy). The positive connotations associated with religion in this quotation are fairly evident. Even something as mundane as proverbs, which other authors have disparaged for their simplicity (Cervantes' proverb quoting Sancho Panza, for instance, is described as engaging in "verbal foolery" for doing so) (Close 345) are imbued with a degree of profundity in Tolstoy's work. They are deemed as positive because they represent the old order of life, before Napoleon's invasion, and are the counterpoint to the pernicious devilry which his military actions are largely perceived as. Part of the reason religion and proverbs are viewed in good terms is because they represent life before the change that Napoleon brought to the Russian aristocracy, which merely reinforces the fact that this novel is about the disintegration of life as it was known prior to Napoleon's insurgence.
Not all of the indelible aspects of life's degeneration are directly related to the usurper and his conquest of various portions of Europe. There are several ways in which this thematic device is explored through simple hallmarks of life and life's journey, such as through the institution of marriage and its close relationship with love. As such, "Tolstoy's own focus on the sufferings of 'ordinary' people reveals his moral purpose -- to examine the causes and conditions of man's continuing inhumanity to man" (Southgate 235) or, perhaps, of woman to man. The character who experiences a disintegration of the importance of these facets of life probably more than any other is Pierre who initially married his first wife because he found her physically desirable. Pierre endured a series of regrettable circumstances after what could only be termed this mistake -- his first wife, Helene Kuragin, commits adultery on him and Pierre nearly murders the man that she cheated with. After separating himself from her, Pierre is virtually despondent and is morally bankrupt, a fact which is demonstrated in the subsequent quotation in which he has his initial encounter with freemasonry. "…the stranger opened his eyes, moved to the table, filled a tumbler with tea for himself and one for the beardless old man to whom he passed it. Pierre began to feel a sense of uneasiness, and the need, even the inevitably, of entering into conversation with this stranger" (Tolstoy). This passage demonstrates the profound change that has come over Pierre since he opts to lose his wife. He is overcome by "uneasiness" and finds himself compelled to do things that, as a member of the aristocracy of the Russian elite, he would not typically do -- such as engage in conversation with strangers who do not appear to be a part of his social class. Such actions on his part show his disillusionment with marriage and many of the conventional attributes of his society -- feelings which will eventually set him forth wandering about Russia, searching for the life he once led which has inevitably altered since the advent of Napoleon and his realization that its typical institutions of marriage are no longer trustworthy.

Overall, even a perfunctory analysis of Tolstoy's War and Peace indicates that life as it was known at the time was tumultuous and in a state of flux since "It is of course Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 that is at the center of Tolstoy's extraordinary study" (Southgate 236). The closing events of…