At over 1300 pages, Tolstoy's War and Peace features characters who disappear as quickly as they appear. But each of them has a particular meaning in the larger themes displayed by War and Peace, be it love, society, personal identity or truth. Although she eventually disappears from the narrative, Liza Bolkonskaya, Prince Andrew's wife, serves as a very important character in many ways: she provides a contrast to Pierre's relationship with Helen, is the bridge between the countryside and the city, and develops the theme of forgiveness through Andrei. Particularly important is her role as Andrei's wife and what this status means for War and Peace. Through her relationship with Andrei and his death, Liza helps show why sexual love should not be chosen over other “truer” forms of love. In fact, Tolstoy portrays different types of relationships, from purely physical ones, to those that appear completely fake, to those that seem perfect. Liza's role in all of this is to help us better understand why sexual love might be less preferable than spiritual love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Liza, or the "young little princess Bolkonskaya", (8) appears as one of the first characters in the novel, before the introduction of Andrei in Chapter IV. Tolstoy calls her “the most seductive woman in Petersburg” (8) and makes every effort to make her seem like a beautiful, innocent and unpretentious woman. Liza is the social butterfly of Petersburg, adored by everyone except her husband. Andrei appears to be extremely bored with her, looking away from her, "with a grimace distorting his beautiful face" (15). At first there is no clear explanation as to why Andrei is not very fond of her, other than that she doesn't seem to be particularly intelligent or interesting, in his opinion. Later Tolstoy mentions that he has changed since Liza became pregnant and points out that this could be a reason for distancing himself. That said, the reader begins to sympathize with her, making her one of the few “similar” characters, especially when compared to Prince Vasili or Anna Pavlovna. Through her bond with Andrei and her presence in the outside world, Liza acts as a bridge between different sets of worlds, making her one of the most important minor characters. The first of these is the world of social elites, as opposed to that of those who do not want to be part of it (Anna, Vasili versus Andrei, Pierre). Liza unites these two spheres, as she is intrinsically part of the first and is in contact with the second through Andrei. She is one of the few characters to have this position: the two worlds don't have many overlapping characters besides her. Indeed, if we consider the rest of Tolstoy's characters, all members of the Rostov family are extremely sociable and people-oriented; Pierre, on the other hand, is part of the elite but fails to fit in. Liza is also the connection point between the rural and urban scenarios. Indeed, she loves the urban environment of Petersburg and feels very safe there, but when Andrei goes to war, he sends her to live on the family estate outside the city. She reproaches Andrei for locking her up alone in the countryside, but sending her there unites those two worlds. Other characters linked to the rural environment remain there throughout the novel (Count Bolkonskaya, Maria) and those linked to the urban environment of Petersburg stay there or commute between there and Moscow. It can be argued that Andrei also acts as a liaison person, but the connection is less clear as he moves in between, due to his enlistment in the war. Although Liza pairs the two togetheropposite worlds, is unable to bridge the gap between sexual and non-sexual love as far as Andrei is concerned. Through this inability, Liza serves as an example of the consequences of primarily sexual love, consequences that may even be worse than those of false social interactions. Indeed, an essential theme of the novel is the intersection of women, love, and lust. Tolstoy takes inspiration from Plato to show the different types of love that exist, from purely physical ones to much more spiritual ones. With the variety of characters that Tolstoy presents to us, he demonstrates how a lustful relationship, a love relationship, or an arranged relationship can unfold. Liza enters this topic to show Tolstoy's point of view on sexual relationships, which can be defined as relationships that contain an element of physical intimacy, either from the beginning or after a period of development. The relationship between Liza and Andrei can fall into this category since there is no longer any psychological or romantic bond between them: therefore, only one child remains of their relationship, the result of physical intimacy. There are other relationships like this, which can be characterized as exclusively sexual, and Tolstoy uses these relationships to show what a “wrong” relationship is. Consider for example that of Natasha and Anatole. In their case, the relationship is clearly wrong as it causes Natasha extreme pain and guilt and reveals Anatole as a soulless person. For Pierre and Helene it is not their sexual relationship that causes problems, but rather the fact that Helene is sexually attracted to other men and perhaps cheats on Pierre. However, the relationship between Liza and Andrei is especially important because Tolstoy pushes the idea further by showing how their sexual intimacy is not only wrong, but can also hinder something positive that was in place before. Indeed, their sexual intimacy leading to the birth of a son drove Andrei away, making the princess believe that he had “no feelings for [her]” (29). She also adds that, during the pregnancy, Andrei has “changed a lot” (29) and now treats her like a child (a fact underlined by the many uses of the word “childish”). Liza feels that this is why he is abandoning her by going to war. In this way Andrei escapes from his commitment as a father. Even after Liza's death, this trend continues as Andrei fails to take care of his son. Furthermore, Tolstoy describes the mistakes of sexual intimacy through the death of the princess. Although death during childbirth was quite common at the time described in the novel, the darkness surrounding it (given Andrei's discontent with his marriage and the pre-emptive negative feelings the princess had towards the birth of her son in the country) makes it much more meaningful. . Tolstoy gives us a lot of detail when he describes Liza's death, saying, "She lay dead, in the same position in which he had seen her five minutes before, and, despite her staring eyes and the paleness of her cheeks, she had the same expression." charming childish face with upper lip covered in tiny black hairs. (351) The repetition of Andrei's reaction that “he was guilty of a sin which he could neither make up for nor forget” (351) seems to indicate some sort of discouraging aspect to the way Liza died. By presenting Liza as a sort of martyr, Tolstoy wants to show the dangers of sexual intimacy as the main basis of a relationship. To the question that Liza's face asks: "what have you done to me?" (351), the basic answer is that she has been exposed to merely sexual love. In comparison, the true path of love could be that of Nikolai and Maria, who is extremely religious and pure, or Pierre and Natasha, who have..