Pierre wins the Duel and thereafter cannot stand to be in the presence of his wife. The night after the conflict he avoids the marital bedroom in preference of his late father’s room. Pierre desires to fall asleep and forget all. Yet a storm of emotions prevents any rest.

Pierre relives his rash decision to marry, which he now realizes would inevitably lead to dreadful consequences. He acknowledges that even when he first expressed love for Hélène, it was not a genuine.

Tolstoy brings you into Pierre’s soul. Pierre recognizes his own sinful pride in his wife’s majestic beauty and appreciation of how she glides through Society. She is so out-of-reach that he could not resist. Yet at her core, he knows her to be depraved. He recalls how her corrupt brother, Anatole, would come to borrow money and take un-natural liberties, like kissing her naked shoulders. He notes how she would assent to the affection. He then relives the time he asked if she felt any symptoms of pregnancy. She belittled him, laughing contemptuously, and voiced she was not the type of fool to want to have children and especially not with Pierre.

Pierre digested these moral sufferings while his adversary faced physical wounds. He agonizes: Why did I say “I love you” (Je vous aime).

His minds wonder to both philosophy and history – including the notion of causation and justification, a topic which Tolstoy pours over in his Second Epilogue. Pierre considers how Louis XVI was executed during the French Revolution when those who gained power labeled him dishonorable and a criminal. From a certain point, the King’s enemies were right. Yet so were those who canonized Louis. Everyone is right depending on their perspective. Pierre is paraphrasing a theme of the Biblical Book of Judges – where there was no King and every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Pierre concludes that it is not worth tormenting oneself over life’s endless complexity when one has only a moment of life in comparison with eternity. He senses: if you are alive— one must live! Tolstoy is such a reader of the Biblical Wisdom literature that he is infusing his character with some of notions from the Book of Job and Ecclesiastes, namely: that our lives are but a shadow in the face of the vast heavens; that we will never understand the nature of the world; and that there is much more beyond cause and effect. For Pierre, he will never be able to fully grasp how his marriage led to such anguish.

Pierre then references Moliére, the 17th Century French playwright. The famous quote goes through his mind – “But what the devil was he doing in that galley?” This phrase was a popular way of voicing frustration when someone gets tangled up in a mess of their own making. It is taken from 'The Imposture of Scapin,' 1671, where the cunning main character tricks an older man into believing his son was lured onto a Turkish ship and would be sold into slavery unless the father pays a ransom. As the father is tricked, he can only replay the quote in his mind. Pierre sees himself as someone caught in such a web of deceit.

This frustration led Pierre to instruct his valet to pack as he would be leaving for Petersburg. He could not be around Hélène another moment. She does not let him leave without giving him a piece of her mind. She confronts him and lectures, “So it seems you’re a hero?, What was this duel about?” He doesn’t answer and she continues: “You believe everything you’re told….including that Dolokhov was my lover. Well, what have you proved? That you’re a fool,(que vous êtes un sot). But everybody knew that! And what will be the result? That I shall be a laughingstock…that everyone will say that you, drunk… challenged a man you are jealous of -- a man who’s a better man than you in every way!”

She denies any affair while announcing that she should have taken a lover and concedes preferring Dolokhov’s company. Pierre begs her to stop, while violent feelings stir within. Pierre keeps composure at first and suggests they separate. Hélène demands a fortune for said privilege. Pierre then leaps up from the sofa and rushes at Hélène and threatens to kills her as he seized the marble top of a table with a strength he never felt. Her face expressed a base fear and she screamed. Some of Pierre’s father’s nature showed itself. Pierre felt the delight of frenzy. He flung down the slab, smashing it and swooped toward Hélène and shouted, “Get out!” Hélène retreated.

A week later Pierre gave his wife what she asked for -- full power to control much of his land. He gave her control on one of the vastest estates in the land and left for Petersburg.

This chapter involves Tolstoy’s craftsmanship of one of the most famous duels in fiction.

It starts with Captain Denísov announcing the formalities and giving a vigorous countdown. On the count of three, each can advance and fire their one shot before reaching sabres that marked ten paces from the other.

Dolokhov walked calmly without raising his pistol. He donned a wry smile and looked intently as he traveled though a fairly clear path. Pierre, however, ambulated clumsily and found himself encumbered by snow. Pierre held the pistol in a way that made little sense, with his right hand fully extended from his body. He was afraid of shooting himself. Pierre visualized Dolokhov through the mist then bent his finger. He had fired his only shot. Pierre shuddered at the sound and then stood still

The smoke from the gun mixed with the mist, making it difficult for anyone to see. There was no return fire! Eventually, Pierre saw and heard Dolokhov coming toward him through the smoke. Dolokhov’s face was pale and he was pressing a hand to his left side, where he had been hit. The hand was visibly bloody by reason a wound to the body. The other hand now clutched a drooping pistol.

Rostov ran toward Dolokhov and tried to ascertain his condition but Dolohov repelled him saying “No! It’s not over.” After a few staggering steps up to the sabre, Dolokhov sank in the snow.

Pierre was about to cry and began running toward his adversary, with the result being that this big man was making himself a bigger target. He was ready to cross the space between the barriers, when Dolokhov cried out: “To your barrier!”

Pierre stopped and only ten paces divided them. Dolokhov, though severely weakened, had every intention of returning fire. He sat up, with his breathing consisting of sucking in and swallowing the cold air. His eyes found their target and with effort and exasperation he raised the pistol. Both Nesvitski and Denisov cried out for Pierre, who did not know the customs of dueling, to make himself a smaller target.

Nevertheless, Pierre was overcome with remorse and become that gentle soul consistent with his nature. Each duelist is brought back to their essence. Dolokhov is trying take Pierre with him and Pierre, wearing a gentle smile of pity and remorse, involuntarily holds his arms and legs helplessly spread with his broad chest facing Dolokhov.

Denísov, Rostov and Nesvítski closed their eyes…….and heard the return fire. What followed was Dolokhov’s angry cry of “Missed!” The experienced soldier and duelist was then reduced to a helpless mess, lying face down on the snow.

Pierre clutched his temples and stumbled around muttering incoherently: “Folly! Vanity! Death! Lies!” Nesvitski soon took Pierre home while Rostov and Denisov carried Dolokhov to a sleigh.

Dolokhov felt he was dying and became focused on what would be the reaction of his poor and elderly mother. This shocked Denisov and Rostov and is meant to surprise you – that this rogue and gambler who been through worst of war, was from a small family were he adored and cared for an elderly mother and crippled sister in Moscow. Dolokhov held Rostov’s hand and cried: “Mamma, my angel, my adored angelic mother.” He implored Nicholas to go on ahead and prepare her for the worst

After Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury in late 2024 for the heavyweight championship, the Ukrainian boxer held up a sabre that once belonged to the 17th Century Ukrainian Cossack Hetman, Ivan Mapeza, who this episode is dedicated to.

Usyk’s fortitude spoke to Ukraine’s resilience against a larger foe who initiated the type of vainglorious War Tolstoy condemns, with all of his soul, in W&P.

Showcasing the weapon was a transcendent moment of Usyk bringing history to Life. This ability is something Tolstoy shares given who often he reaches into the past to make literary points. In W&P, for example, Tolstoy cites the Classical world and more recent influences. He skillfully adapts the famous quote from Voltaire: "If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." The Frenchman also had a well-known correspondence with Catherine II, who some of W&P’s characters look to as illustrative of an idealized past. Yet part of her reputation involves keeping so many under serfdom. Voltaire urged her to release her serfs.

Quite forgotten is how Voltaire contributed to Mazepa becoming an icon of the Romantic age. Victor Hugo, Lord Byron & Franz List, also elevated Mazepa to a status Tolstoy himself briefly references in his 1857 work “Youth.” Tolstoy wrote that if he reaches the age of 70, he envisions that a lovely young woman could love him as easily as she could love….a Mazeppa.

Mazepa was born to a noble Cossack family near Kyiv. His father was a town otaman (leader) and his mother instilled in her son a deep devotion to God and Cossack culture. Mazepa received a European education and served at the Polish royal court. While quite young, he is said to have fallen in love with the wife of a Polish nobleman and to have been punished through being tied to a wild horse and carried back to the Land of the Cossacks, where he was adopted by one of their communities and rose to leader. He was Hetman from 1687 – 1709.

Mazepa remains a key figure in Ukrainian-Russian relations given he decided to turn his allegiance to Sweden over the Czar during the Great Northern War. This conflict was fought between Sweden and an anti-Swedish coalition led by Moscow. This intermittent affair lasted about 20 years and involved control over Northern Europe and the Baltics. Sweden initially did well causing Peter to move his troops inward and draw Charles to invade.

The conflict made its way to Mazepa’s Cossacks, whose status and allegiance greatly changed over the previous generation. Since 1654, many were uneasy allies with the Czar after withdrawing support for Poland. They now felt subject to excessive demands for troops to be used in projects like building canals and fortresses, where they could be worked to sickness and death and used as proverbial “cannon fodder”

Thus, in 1708, Mazepa aligned with Charles, giving him 5,000 Cossacks. Mazepa felt he was choosing the lesser of two evils. Later that year, there was a race of belligerents to Mazepa’s home city of Baturyn. 20,000 Russian soldiers commanded by Alexander Menshikov overwhelmed this military arsenal and food store. When the city fell, there was this infamous slaughter of the civilian population. A number were tied to makeshift crosses or boards and floated down the local river.

The next summer, on June 27, 1709, the armies faced off near Poltava, where Peter & Charles were on-hand directing troops. The Czar prevailed and this turn in history explains why Sweden never became a great power. This battle also had a major role in propelling Russia to their status. Yet that fire in the hearts of Ukrainians for independence was not extinguished over the next few centuries. Today, a Ukrainian state exists which exacts quite the toll on Russian aggression. Ukrainians revere Mazepa for making the best choice he could.

Mazepa was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church and Czar Peter also ordered all portraits of the man destroyed. Similarly, Tolstoy, was separated from the Orthodox Church in 1901 through a Church Proclamation. Tolstoy’s writing on religion led to the church to declare him as a “false teacher” imbued with “intellectual pride.” This leads me to the second reference to I have found from Tolstoy on Mazppa, which is the book “Life of Tolstoy” by Tolstoy’s long-time English friend and translator, Alymer Maude. Maude describes how Tolstoy studied the life of Mazepa upon a friendly wager as a law student.