One of the aspects of War and Peace that I find most interesting and that I have spent time and effort on this blog is the plethora of characters in the novel. The novel contains many characters that are well-developed or span many chapters of the novel, but it also contains many characters that have small arcs or are in just one section of the novel. There are also several characters who appear in a singular chapter of the novel, never to appear again. In this post, I wanted to look at three interesting characters that appear in just one chapter, thus not deserving of a post in themselves, but still worth commenting on.
Lieutenant Telyanin: Chapter 30. Mentioned: Chapters 31, 34, 46, and 98.
Telyanin is different from the other two on this list because he looms over a thread of the plot and in the Bromfield translation actually appears later in the book at Nikolai Bolkonsky's funeral. In the final version of the novel, his character appears for the final time by being the one that gets Denisov in trouble as the latter stole food and goods for his men, serving as the punctuation on the treacherous nature of Telyanin's character. However, the principal episode involving Telyanin, the only chapter he actually appears in, which serves as the first mention of his character as well, is Book 1 Part 2 Chapter 4. He is described as "small" and "For some reason...had been transferred from the guards just before the regiment had marched off" (quotes here are from the Briggs translation). Whether this is because "no one liked him" or because (even though"He had behaved well enough") there had been a dishonest incident before is unclear. Nikolai Rostov in particular dislikes him strongly, at least partly because has has sold him a horse that appears to be injured or at least have a limp. Perhaps most importantly in the way his character is set up by Tolstoy, Telyanin doesn't look people in the eye, instead looking all around him, a classic sign of dishonesty. The characters even step out of the room and discuss how much they dislike him while Telyanin sits and rubs his hands together. Telyanin teaches Rostov how to shoe a horse, though this seems to be an excuse in order to distract him to take his money, which is the biggest part of Telyanin's "arc" in how it demonstrates Nikolai's character as righteous in principle, though not concerned about the money itself. When Nikolai confronts Telyanin, he is, probably meaningfully, eating sausage, the German food, and drinking wine, which Tolstoy would progressively thumb his nose at. He initially talks about how he is planning on spending the money, but when confronted, his "words sounded pathetic, almost desperate, a plea for forgiveness." He is terrified and and his cries "were pitiful". He gives an excuse of an old father and that he is young and doesn't want to be ruined. Telyanin is somewhat the anti-Boris, in that he gets caught being immoral (Boris doesn't get caught, though he doesn't seem to stoop to petty stealing, which, as a class and honor thing, has a whole different meaning) and when he does, he breaks down and becomes pathetic, which Boris never does because he never reveals his inner self.
Marya Nikolayevna: Chapter 259. Mentioned: Chapter 260
In one of the starker scenes of the book, Book 3 Part 3 Chapter 33 has Pierre walking around a burning Moscow, looking for Napoleon, who he believes is the Anti-Christ, in order to kill him. As he does this, he sees a "skinny woman, no youngster, with long, protruding upper teeth, wearing a black cloak and cap." With her family in tow, she throws herself at Pierre and begs him to help her get her youngest daughter, who is caught in a fire. As her husband tries to console her, she screams at him and calls him a "monster" and "villain". Her whole disposition changes when Pierre agrees to help, but when she is angry, her "long teeth stuck out even more." This is the only time we see her in the novel, as she is not there when Pierre comes back with the child. Clearly, the character serves to further the plot and helps Pierre not only completely change his focus and goal, but plays into the narrative thread that leads to Pierre being captured by the French, as this moment of helping others leads to him intervening in another episode. Her defining characteristics as they exist in themselves are her teeth, which is something mentioned in a few characters (a lot of emphasis is put on Nikolai Bolkonsky's missing tooth), and the way she screams at the people around her, only to change to kind when begging Pierre.
Bagovut: Chapter 282
Unlike the previous two characters, Bagovut is a real life character. When searching for him on the internet, you will have the most likely have success by searching "Karl Fedorovich Baggovut". He gained his fame in 1794 fighting Poles, then participated in Friedland, which is discussed in War and Peace, and then was successful in the war against Sweden, which is really only mentioned by Napoleon in his discussion with Balashov. Just as in the novel, he was killed by one of the first French shots in the battle of Tarutino. Emperor Alexander wrote after his death that he was a "brave" and "useful" commander. In the novel, he only appears at the end of Book 4 Part 2 Chapter 6. Before we are introduced to him, we are told that the Cossacks can't stop plundering rather than accomplishing the goal of defeating the French and that the Russian command is in complete disarray. We are introduced to Bagovut's corps before we are introduced to him, with Toll chasing after him to tell him that his troops should be elsewhere (a running theme throughout the novel, with soldiers never quite being where they are supposed to be). Bagovut is introduced as a "phlegmatic military man of the old school" ("a fighting old soldier of placid temperament" in Maude, which is, surprisingly, a more readable translation here) and frustrated by all the "chaos and contradictory orders". Unlike Bagration and Kutuzov, who in chaos thrive by allowing the chaos to happen without trying to control, Bagovut plays into a mostly forgotten but comedic scene: "the valiant Bagovut was too worked up to wonder whether or not his sortie with a single division was likely to do any good at this point in the action." Again, playing him as the anti-Kutuzov, who values "patience and time" beyond anything, Bagovut charges straight into the battle and dies, "serving no purpose." This is where Tolstoy's satirical interpretation of Russian history has real staying power. This is a general that the tsar calls valuable, but the most famous depiction of the Napoleonic invasion, especially from the Russian side, has him in just one scene, where he instantly dies because he is unable to restrain himself. While on a small scale, this is how "historical fiction" and most specifically Tolstoy's writings, can take a person that is considered "heroic" and completely take them down. This is something that Tolstoy continually does throughout the novel, taking down characters like Napoleon, Rostopchin, Murat, Arakcheev, and the Emperor of Austria. Bagovut serves a small example of this, a Russian hero depicted as behaving in an irrational way that holds him up to ridicule.
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