CHAPTER 1
Pierre is on his way to Petersburg and contemplates the duel. He questions what life is about and concludes that the only answer to all of life's questions is death. He stares at an old stranger who walks in, realizing that something about this man makes him uncomfortable yet intrigued.
Important Quotes
"And I,"
continued Pierre, "shot Dolokhov because I considered myself injured, and
Louis XVI was executed because they considered him a criminal, and a year
later they executed those who executed him—also for some reason.
What is bad? What is good? What should one love and what hate? What does
one live for? And what am I? What is life, and what is death? What power
governs all?"
"The answer was: "You'll die
and all will end. You'll die and know all, or cease asking." But dying was
also dreadful."
"All we can know is that we
know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom."
CHAPTER 2
The stranger turn out to be Joseph Bazdeev, a well known free mason. At first Pierre is apprehensive about talking to him because he has such different views than that of the Masons. But he ends up talking to Bazdeev who tells Pierre to submit himself to God and that he is unhappy because he isn't virtuous. Pierre realizes that Bazdeev is right and wants to find God and a happier life.
Important Quotes
"I should never dare to say that I know the truth," said the Mason, whose
words struck Pierre more and more by their precision and firmness. "No one
can attain to truth by himself."
Bazdeev: "Who invented Him, if He did not exist? Whence came thy conception
of the existence of such an incomprehensible Being? didst thou, and why
did the whole world, conceive the idea of the existence of such an
incomprehensible Being, a Being all-powerful, eternal, and infinite in all
His attributes?..."
Pierre: "Not a
trace of his former doubts remained in his soul. He firmly believed in the
possibility of the brotherhood of men united in the aim of supporting one
another in the path of virtue, and that is how Freemasonry presented
itself to him."
CHAPTER 3
Pierre is invited to join the free masons by his sponsor, Willarski. He goes to his initiation where he is blindfolded and taken into a dimly lit room with a candle, a skull, and bones. The Rhetor comes in (a man whom he recognizes) and begins initiation. He tells Pierre that he must be willing to believe in God and follow his virtues and not be afraid of death. Pierre, caught up in trying to follow a virtuous life and make a difference agrees, not remembering that he must also swear to not be afraid of death. His initiation continues after he confesses that his primary downfall is women. Pierre already feels a changed man.
*I predict that Pierre might regret his decision to join the Masons because he doesn't realize the amount of work and dedication it takes. He thinks he is reformed, but really he isn't close.... he might have to face his biggest fear, death*
Important Quotes
"He was not
at all surprised by what he saw. Hoping to enter on an entirely new life
quite unlike the old one, he expected everything to be unusual, even more
unusual than what he was seeing. A skull, a coffin, the Gospel—it
seemed to him that he had expected all this and even more. Trying to
stimulate his emotions he looked around. "God, death, love, the
brotherhood of man,"
"The important mystery mentioned by the Rhetor, though it
aroused his curiosity, did not seem to him essential, and the second aim,
that of purifying and regenerating himself, did not much interest him
because at that moment he felt with delight that he was already perfectly
cured of his former faults and was ready for all that was good."
" 1. Discretion,
the keeping of the secrets of the Order. 2. Obedience to those of higher
ranks in the Order. 3. Morality. 4. Love of mankind. 5. Courage. 6.
Generosity. 7. The love of death."
"[Pierre] felt already in his soul:
courage, generosity, morality, love of mankind, and especially obedience—which
did not even seem to him a virtue, but a joy. (He now felt so glad to be
free from his own lawlessness and to submit his will to those who knew the
indubitable truth.) He forgot what the seventh virtue was and could not
recall it."
CHAPTER 4
Pierre's initiation continues and he is led to a room where his fellow Mason brothers are. He is told to bow prostrate before the Gates of the Temple which he does, somewhat embarrassed at first. He feels such a fellowship with the others and is eager to please and work with them. He is told the secrets and symbols of the society and is given a white apron, which represents purity and he must never dirty, and three white gloves. One pairs' meaning remains unknown to him, the other is to wear to meetings, and the last is to give to a woman who is pure and virtuous.
Important Quotes
"But beware, dear brother, that these gloves do not deck
hands that are unclean."
"The meeting was at an end, and on reaching home Pierre felt as if he had
returned from a long journey on which he had spent dozens of years, had
become completely changed, and had quite left behind his former habits and
way of life."
CHAPTER 5
Pierre returns to his estate where Vasili confronts him about the Helene situation. He reassures Pierre that his daughter never cheated on him. He suggests they write an apology to her, but Pierre refuses, telling Vasili to leave the room. Vasili is taken aback by Pierre's change in attitude.
Important Quotes
"Pierre himself feared to begin to speak in
the tone of decided refusal and disagreement in which he had firmly
resolved to answer his father-in-law. Moreover, the words of the masonic
statutes, "be kindly and courteous," recurred to him."
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