Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky

Title

The use of 'prince' in Russian novels is sometimes confusing to an English audience, who are accustomed to 'princes' as the close male relatives of monarchs, or monarchs of small states in their own right. In Eastern Europe, the title knyaz was anciently the chief of a Slavic tribe or ruler of a state; in 19th-century Russia, where War and Peace is set, the title knyaz was similar to, or above, a Western duke or a German Fürst, and it is conventionally translated as 'prince' even though the holder may not be descended from any sovereign. Early in the novel, Andrei is a kniazhich (son of a prince, viz. the knyaz Nikolai Bolkonsky); Andrei becomes a knyaz when his father dies. Both titles are usually translated as 'Prince' in English.

Possible prototype

He is possibly based on Tolstoy's cousin Prince Sergey Volkonsky (1788–1865), who was a hero of the Napoleonic Wars and later a Decembrist. However, the scholar Laura Jepsen's view is that unlike "many of the other characters for whom the author found living prototypes, Prince Andrei is entirely fictitious".

Life and death

At the beginning of the novel, the handsome and intellectual Andrei, disillusioned with married life and finding his wife preoccupied with trivialities, becomes an officer in the Third Coalition against his idol, Napoleon Bonaparte. When he goes to war, he leaves his pregnant wife, Lise, at Bald Hills in the countryside with his father and sister.

Andrei is wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz. He has an epiphany while lying on the battlefield gazing up at the vastness of the blue sky, realising the triviality of human affairs under the immobile eyes of nature and that he has the potential to be happy. Shortly afterwards, Andrei is rescued from the battlefield by Napoleon, who takes a liking to him, although Andrei no longer sees him as a great man but as "...a small, insignificant man compared with what was happening between his soul and this lofty, infinite sky with clouds racing across it...with his petty vanity and joy in victory." However, Prince Andrei is not listed among the dead or the officers taken prisoner, leading his father and sister to assume the worst. Neither inform Lise that he is unaccounted-for, fearing to cause her any anxiety in the final stages of her pregnancy. Andrei arrives, fully recovered, while his wife is in labour and sees her briefly before she dies in childbirth. The child, a boy, survives. Andrei, who, despite everything, had cared deeply for his wife (as he confides later to Pierre), is guilt-stricken and depressed. Completely disillusioned with his former wartime ambitions, Andrei spends the following few years at home, raising his son and serving under his father.

In 1809, Andrei is recalled to Petersburg, where he is formally introduced to Countess Natasha Rostova for the first time. Andrei wishes to marry Natasha, but his father expresses concern: he does not wish to see his son rush into a marriage with a woman half his age, and socially below him. Old Prince Bolkonsky demands that they wait a year before marrying. Andrei proposes marriage to Natasha, who happily accepts, though she is upset by the one-year wait. In the meantime Andrei decides to tour Europe.

In Andrei's absence however, Natasha develops an infatuation with the libertine Prince Anatole Kuragin. She breaks off the engagement with Andrei and plans to elope with Kuragin. Natasha is stopped by her cousin Sonya and Marya Dmitrievna, who suspect Anatole's intentions. They later find out from Pierre Bezukhov that Anatole is already secretly married to a Polish woman.

Character development

Prince Andrei is one of the most elaborated personages in the novel, together with Count Pierre Bezukhov, to whom he serves as a philosophical opposite. He is introduced as a slightly cynical character, disillusioned in his marriage by what he sees as the simple-mindedness of his wife. He is depicted as an atheist, skeptical of his sister Marya's strong religious beliefs.

Andrei enlists in the army and desperately tries to reach a high rank because he believes history is made at the top of command. He often dreams of being in command of the army and wishes he could make his imaginative plans become a reality. Andrei is shown to have great respect for Napoleon, as his view on historic events being the will of a few important people is embodied best by Napoleon. While lying wounded on the Austerlitz battlefield, Andrei meets Napoleon and realizes the nature of his hero, who is excited by the carnage on the battlefield. He loses his belief in the importance of single personages compared to the whole world.

After his return home and the death of his wife, Andrei becomes more cynical, losing his interest in war and politics. The Battle of Austerlitz made him see the chaos in war, and the inability of even the great figures of history to change the course of events. Focusing completely on the education of his son, he only enters public service under his father because the latter wished so. A visit by Pierre Bezukhov, who recently joined the Freemasons and attempts to explain his philosophies to the pessimistic and disillusioned Andrei, makes Andrei realise that his life is not over yet. Although Pierre's philosophies fail to convince him, he finds joy in his life again.

Andrei regains the will to live and becomes more optimistic. During this period he is also shown to be fairly humanist, he frees his serfs and tries to improve their living conditions under influence of the thoughts Pierre expressed to him. Reflecting on his experiences at Austerlitz, he now becomes convinced that in order to prevent the chaos on the battlefield he experienced, the military code needs to be changed.

After meeting Natasha Rostova, he becomes enchanted with her liveliness, which contrasts with his life after the death of his wife. He proposes to her but his father disapproves, and suggests that Andrei should wait a year and receive treatment abroad for his wound. While Andrei is away, Natasha disgraces herself by attempting to elope with Anatole Kuragin. Andrei is too proud to forgive her.