Platón Karatáev

Platón appears in the novel's later movement, a Russian peasant taken up into the army and then into French captivity alongside Pierre. He speaks in proverbs, moves with a round, unhurried cheerfulness, and accepts each day as it comes without complaint or ambition. For Pierre, who has spent the book searching for meaning in philosophy, Freemasonry, and love, Platon is a revelation: goodness that does not argue with itself, a way of being that requires no theory. He is the moral center of the captivity chapters and one of the novel's most enduring images of Russian peasant life.