Briggs: Natasha monopolizes Pierre, but gives him total freedom round the house.
Maude (chapters 10-14): Natasha's and Pierre's family life. His return after a visit to Petersburg. The old countess in decay. Conversation about social tendencies, and indignation at reactionary trend of the government. Views of Pierre and Nicholas
Translation:
X.
Natasha exited to get married early in the spring of the year 1813 and she had in the year 1820 now three daughters and one son, whom she wanted and now herself fed. She was plumper and widened, so that it was difficult to know in this strong mother was the former thin, mobile Natasha. The features of her face were defined and had an expression of calm softness and clarity. On her face was not, as before, this incessantly burning fire of revitalization, forming her beauty. Now often it was seen one face and body, but her soul was not quite seen. Visible was only a strong, beautiful and fruitful bitch. Very seldom ignited in her now the former fire. This happened only then, when, as now, returned her husband, when recovered a child, or when she with Countess Marya remembered about Prince Andrey (with her husband she, assuming that he was jealous to her memory of Prince Andrey, never talked about him), and very seldom, when something accidentally involved her singing, which she completely left after marriage. And in those rare minutes, when the former fire ignited in her developed beautiful body, she was still more attractive than before.
With the time of their marriage, Natasha lived with her husband in Moscow, in Petersburg and in the Moscow region village, and at her mothers, i.e. at Nikolay’s. In society young Countess Bezuhov saw little, and those that she saw, stayed by her unhappy. She was not a sweetheart, or kind. Natasha was not so that she loved privacy (she did not know whether she was loved or not, to her it even seemed that she was not), but she was carrying, giving birth and feeding children and taking participation in each minute of the life of her husband, and could not satisfy by this needs otherwise, as refusing from society. All who knew Natasha before the marriage were surprised at the occurred in her change, as it was for some reason extraordinary. Only the old countess, with maternal instinct understanding that all the outbursts of Natasha had the beginning only of the need to have a family, have a husband (as she, not so much jokingly, in fact, shouted at Otradnoe) — only her mother was amazed at the surprise of people not understanding Natasha and repeated that she always knew that Natasha would be an exemplary wife and mother.
— She only to extremes leads her love to her husband and children, — said the countess, — so that this is even stupid.
Natasha did not follow that golden correctness, preached by smart people, in particular the French, consisting in that a girl, exiting to get married, should not lower, should not throw their talents, should still more than girls engage his looks, should seduce the husband so again, as she seduced the not husband. Natasha, the opposite, threw right away all her charm, of which in her was only unusually strong — her singing. Because she threw it, this was a strong charm. Natasha did not care about manners, about delicacy of speeches, or about so that to seem to her husband in the most profitable poses, or about her toilette, or about so that to not constrain her husband’s requirements. She did all disgusting by these rules. She felt that those charms, which instinct taught her to use before, now only would be funny in the eyes of her husband, to whom she from the first minutes gave back all — i.e. all her soul, not leaving one corner open for him. She felt that she recognized with her husband held not those poetic feelings that attracted him to her, but held something other, uncertain, but solid, as recognized her own soul with her body.
To whip curls, to put on dresses and to sing romances so that to attract to herself her husband, would have seemed to her so the same strange, as to adorn herself, so that to be most by herself pretty. To adorn again herself so that to be liked by others, maybe, this would be nice for her — she did not know — but was completely alone. The main cause, by which she was not occupied by singing, toilette, or pondering her words, consisted in that she was completely alone to engage this.
We know that a person has the ability to submerge all in one subject, how it would seem insignificant. And we know that no such worthless subject, which at a concentrated attention addressed to it, has not grown to infinity.
The subject, in which quite plunged Natasha — was family, i.e. a husband who was needed to keep so, for he inseparably belonged to her, a home, — and children, for which it was needed to carry, to give birth, to feed and to educate.
And the more she delved into, not by mind, but by all soul, to all her essence was occupied the subject, by that the more this subject grew under her attention and by that weaker and insignificant seemed her forces, so that she concentrated everything in one and the same, and all the same did not have time to do only that it seemed she needed.
Talk and reasoning about the rights of women, about the relations of spouses, about freedom and their rights, although were not called still as now, the questions were then exactly such the same as now; but these questions not only did not interest Natasha, but she resolutely did not understand them.
These questions then, as now, existed only for those people that in marriage see only the pleasure received by the spouses from each other, i.e. only the start of marriage, but not all its matters, consisting in the family.
This reasoning and the current questions, and similar questions about in what way to get as much pleasure from lunch, did not exist then, as it does not exist now for people, for which the objective of lunch is food, and the objective of matrimony — family.
If the objective of lunch — food for bodies, that who eats suddenly two lunches, will reach, maybe, more pleasure, but will not reach the goals, for both lunches are not digested by the stomach.
If the objective of marriage is family, that who will want to have many wives and husbands, maybe, will receive much pleasure, but in such a case will not have a family.
All questions, should the objective of lunch be food, but the objective of marriage — family, are allowed only by that, so that to not eat more that may be digested by the stomach — and not have more wives and husbands than as many, as much are needed for a family, i.e. one and one. Natasha needed a husband. A husband was given to her. And the husband gave her a family. And on the other hand, in the best husband she not only did not see the need, but, so as all the forces of her soul were directed so that to serve this husband and family, she could not to herself represent, and saw no interest in the presentation about what would be, if it was another.
Natasha did not love society at all, but she by that more cherished the society of relatives — Countess Marya, her brother, her mothers and Sonya. She cherished the society of those people, to which she, disheveled, in a smock, could exit to the large steps from the children with a joyful face and show a diaper with yellow instead of green spots, and to listen to the consolation about that now the child was much better.
Natasha to such an extent lowered that her costumes, her hairstyles, her out of place said words, her jealousy — she was jealous to Sonya, to the governess, to every beautiful and ugly woman — were the ordinary subject of jokes of all her loved ones. The common opinion was that Pierre was under the shoe of his wife, and really this was so. From the very first days of their matrimony, Natasha stated her demands. Pierre was very surprised by this completely new for him view of his wife, consisting in that each minute of his life belongs to her and the family; Pierre was surprised by the requirements of his wife, but was flattered by them and obeyed them.
The subordination Pierre concluded in that he did not dare not only to look after, but not to dare with a smile to speak with another woman, not dare to ride to clubs, to dinners, so that to conduct time, not dare to spend money for a whim, not dare to leave in long timings, excluding as by deeds, in the number of which his wife included his lessons of sciences, in which she understood nothing, but which she attributed a big importance. This return, Pierre had the complete right in himself in the house to position not only himself as he wanted to, but all the family. Natasha in herself in the house set herself on the leg of slave to her husband; and all the house went on tiptoe when Pierre was occupied — reading or writing in his office. Stood Pierre to show some addiction, and that what he loved, it was constantly performed. Stood his expressed wish, and Natasha jumped up and ran to enforce it.
All the house was led only by the imaginary imperative of the husband, i.e. the desires of Pierre, which Natasha tried to guess. The form, the place of life, acquaintances, communication, the lessons of Natasha, the upbringing of children — not only was all done by the expressed will of Pierre, but Natasha sought to guess that what could flow out from the expressed in conversations thoughts of Pierre. And she rightly guessed that in what consisted the essence of the desires of Pierre and, in the time of guessing it, she now firmly held to the time of the elected. When Pierre himself now wanted to change his wish, she fought against him with his same weapons.
So in the heavy time, forever memorable to Pierre, of Natasha, after the childbirth of the first weak child, when they had to change three wet nurses and Natasha was ill from despair, Pierre once informed her of the thought of Rousseau, with which he was completely in agreement, about the unnatural harm of the wet nurses. With the next kid, despite the opposition of her mother, the doctors and her husband himself, rebelling against her wet nurse, as against things then unheard of and harmful, she insisted in it, and with that since all children were fed herself.
Quite often, in minutes of irritation, it happened that husband with wife argued, but long then after the argument Pierre to his joy and surprise found, not only in the words, but in the action of his wife was that very idea against which she argued. And not only did he find that same idea, but he found her purified from only what was superfluous, called hobby and disputed, in her expression.
After seven years of matrimony Pierre felt a joyful, solid consciousness that he was not a bad person, and he felt this because of how he saw himself reflected in his wife. In himself he felt all good and evil mixed and darkened with one another. Yet in his wife reflected only that what was truly okay; all not at all good was thrown back. And this reflection was happening as not a path of logical thought, but as another mysterious, direct path.
Mentioned: spring of the year 1813
Locations:
Mentioned: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow suburban estate, Otradnoe, French
Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: We now update on Natasha, who is raising her children, nearly unrecognizable physically, and mentally as well, from her previous self. There is an interesting parenthetical where she doesn't talk about Andrei to Pierre, "supposing that he was jealous". She does not appear in society and is not liked there. None of this change surprises her mother, who could see it from when she was young.
"Natasha did not follow that golden rule preached by intelligent people, especially the French, according to which a girl, once married, should not let herself go, should not abandon her talents, should be still more concerned with her appearance than when unmarried, should entice her husband just as she had enticed him before she was her husband."
"The main reason why she was not occupied with singing with dressing, or with thinking over her words, was that she had absolutely no time to be occupied with them...Discussions and arguments about women's rights, about the relations between spouses, about their freedom and rights, though they had not yet been called "questions," as they are now, were the same then as they are now; but these questions not only did not interest Natasha, but she decidedly did not understand them."
Tolstoy develops the analogy of eating a dinner for nourishment as marriage for family. "the whole question is solved simply by not eating more than the stomach can digest and not having more wives and husbands than are needed for a family, that is, one of each."
Pierre understands Natasha's demands and submits to them. However, in exchange for submitting his freedom, Natasha "put herself on the footing of her husband's slave."
The whole idea of the unnaturalness of wet nurses, Rousseau is even mentioned outright, is brought up.
In this arrangement, Pierre finds happiness and that he is not a bad person. "And this reflection came not by way of logical thinking, but otherwise--as a mysterious, unmediated reflection."
Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):
Countess Natasha Bezukhaya (also "wife")
Pierre (also "husband". Could be argued he is in the chapter.)
Countess Mariya
Prince Andrei
Countess Rostova ("mother" and "old countess")
Nikolai (also "brother")
Sonya
(also Natasha and Pierre's undifferentiated children. Also people that talk about Natasha, clever men, and the French. Also the theoretical person who eats two dinners. Also the governess. Rousseau has been considered more of a reference than a character throughout, which is why he is here.)
Abridged Versions: Start of chapter 4 in Bell. Ends with a line break.
Gibian: Chapter 3: Line break instead of chapter break.
Komroff: Basic structure and ideas of the chapter are preserved but shortened. Followed by a line break.
Kropotkin: Chapter 5: As with Komroff, a lot of the theoretical discussion about husbands is removed. However, the rest of the chapter is preserved.
Simmons: Chapter 3: A lot of the detail of Natasha's new life is removed. The Rousseau theory against wetnursing is removed. Line break instead of chapter break.
Additional Notes:
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