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Anna Pavlovna Scherer
Platon is a fellow prisoner whom Pierre meets while in French custody. He is a gentle, wise peasant who reassures Pierre and seems to be “the embodiment of everything Russian.” He is full of homespun sayings and stories. On the march, he travels with a bowlegged dog named Gray and, after weakening from a fever, gets shot as a straggler. Pierre sees Platon as the embodiment of someone who loves life despite suffering guiltlessly.
Platon Karataev Quotes in War and Peace
The War and Peace quotes below are all either spoken by Platon Karataev or refer to Platon Karataev. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Volume 4, Part 1: Chapters 9–13 Quotes
Karataev had no attachments, friendships, or love, as Pierre understood them; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought his way, especially other people— not any specific people, but those who were there before his eyes. He loved his mutt, his comrades, the French, he loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre sensed that, despite all his gentle tenderness towards him […] Karataev would not have been upset for a moment to be parted from him. And Pierre was beginning to experience the same feeling towards Karataev. […]
But for Pierre he remained forever as he had seen him the first night, the unfathomable, round, and eternal embodiment of the spirit of simplicity and truth.
Related Characters:
Pierre Bezukhov, Platon Karataev
Page Number and Citation:
974
Explanation and Analysis:
When Pierre is despairing in prison, he meets a fellow prisoner, a peasant named Platon Karataev. Besides being the archetypical Russian peasant, Platon becomes instrumental in Pierre’s spiritual reawakening.
It’s not Platon’s sayings or stories that influence Pierre so much as Platon’s way of being in the world. Platon has a simple, whole-hearted way of accepting whatever happens to him in life and loving whomever he meets. Pierre, in contrast, has always been tormented by questions about the meaning of life and his role in the world; because of this, joy and simplicity have always eluded him.
Platon teaches Pierre that joy is possible by learning to embrace daily life, no matter what uncertainty or suffering he encounters. Platon contrasts markedly with Pierre’s first mentor, Bazdeev, who taught him that happiness is attainable through the esoteric practices and science of Freemasonry. For Platon, happiness comes not through study or self-denial, but love.
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Platon Karataev Character Timeline in War and Peace
The timeline below shows where the character Platon Karataev appears in War and Peace. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Volume 4, Part 1: Chapters 9–13
...prisoner in a hospital, where he was suffering from a fever. He introduces himself as Platon Karataev. A peasant, he was sent into the army for going into another man’s grove....
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...four weeks. Though much of this remains a fog in Pierre’s mind, he always remembers Platon Karataev, who seems to Pierre “the embodiment of everything Russian.” What Pierre remembers most is...
(full context)
Volume 4, Part 2: Chapters 8–14
A French soldier comes by the prisoners’ shed and pays Platon for a shirt Platon has sewn for him. The soldier asks Platon to give back...
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...strong he really is, and he endures them joyfully. In his experiences and in knowing Karataev, he finally discovers the inner harmony and peace with himself that he’d sought in other...
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Volume 4, Part 3: Chapters 12–15
...as cold and hungry as themselves, and they treat them more harshly. Pierre reunites with Karataev and his sidekick, a bowlegged dog. Three days after leaving Moscow, Karataev comes down with...
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On October 22nd, Pierre walks along with Gray the dog, thinking about a conversation with Platon Karataev the night before. When he walked up to Platon’s campfire, he felt uncomfortable seeing...
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...form up to let a well-dressed convoy pass by. About the same time, Pierre spots Karataev leaning against a tree, his face both tender and solemn. Karataev catches Pierre’s eye, and...
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...the village of Shamshevo, and Pierre falls asleep by the fire. He dreams vividly of Karataev, knowing that the hardest and happiest thing is to love life while suffering guiltlessly. When...
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Volume 4, Part 4: Chapters 15–20
...witnessing the executions; Natasha urges him not to leave any details out. When he describes Karataev, Pierre’s voice trembles. As he tells his story and Natasha listens, sensitively taking in each...
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Epilogue, Part 1: Chapters 8–16
Natasha asks Pierre if Platon Karataev would have approved of his activities. Pierre reflects that Platon would have approved of...
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