Princess Marya Bolkonsky, Stoic Sage?

Day 51 of A Year of War and Peace

You’ll be hardpressed to find a more virtuous response to adversity in War and Peace than you do from Marya in this chapter. Here she is ill-treated by the two most important people in her life. And, yet, she responds with dignity and magnanimity to both of them.

We’re talking, of course, about her father, old Prince Bolkonsky, and her companion, Mademoiselle Bourienne. Her father is the first to offend her. He calls her into his study to talk about the proposal of marriage. It shouldn’t be surprising, given what we know of the old prince, that his quick irritability leads him to insult his daughter. This insult reduces her to tears.

Meanwhile, in the conservatory, Mademoiselle Bourienne and Anatole have hooked-up. Princess Marya, leaving her father, happens upon them in a sensual embrace. Keep in mind that this is all within just a few hours of the end of the last chapter wherein Marya lulled herself to sleep with reveries of a loving marriage to Anatole. So it’s not like catching him with her best friend doesn’t sting.

But how does Princess Marya respond?

Is it with vindictiveness? Does she add to the quantum of suffering in the household by lashing out at her father and Mademoiselle Bourienne? No. She reassures her father that he is the center of her life and that she remains devoted to him. And then it’s actually Marya who comforts Mademoiselle Bourienne. She strokes her hair and consoles her. She refuses Anatole’s proposal of marriage with calmness. She also tells Mademoiselle Bourienne that she will do everything in her power to arrange a marriage between her and Anatole if that’s what Mademoiselle Bourienne desires.

DAILY MEDITATION