The handling and impact of Death in War and Peace

In Tolstoy’s work “War and Peace” one encounters many cases of death, in many different forms and places. In the war scenes death is a matter of numbers, whereas individual deaths in the families are elaborate and far more sentimental. Certain characters in the novel are already dead, whereas others are waiting to be reborn. The novel is rich in this aspect and descriptive of the impact of death. Therefore, we shall consider here only physical deaths of significant characters of the novel to gain a better understanding of the handling and results of their physical death. First of all we shall look closer at the death scene of Lise and the impact of it on the family left behind, life of her baby son Nikolai, her husband Andrei and sister in law Mariya. Secondly, the elaborate scenes of Count Bezukhov’s long awaited death. Third, the death of old Prince Bolkonsky and the tremendous change it brought to princess Mariya’s life. Finally, we shall examine futile and untimel...