Rastopchin the monster

If Tolstoy is contemptuous of Napoleon, he despises Count Rastopchin, who seems to be in charge of Moscow during the invasion by the French (not clear to me exactly what he role is, probably some kind of appointment from the czar). After he portrays him bitterly as largely responsible for the chaos in the city thanks to his many conflicting and completely mendacious public proclamations (Kutozov will defend the city to the last, etc.), now he shows him in panic as the masses press into his courtyard. To effect his escape literally out the back door, he in turns over a prisoner to the crowd and lets them beat the prisoner to death. We've passed beyond Nixon here into the realm of Saddam Hussein et al., men totally without principle who believe their acting in the best interest of others. Ratopchin rationalizes, as he leaves the city, that he had to do this for the public good (he thinks in French, another sign of contempt). Meanwhile, Tolstoy's view of people on mass is pretty repulsive as well - he again is unable or unwilling to see the working classes as anything but a malignant presence. He sees no individuals, just a swarm. And speaking of swarm - I noted previously that Tolstoy rarely uses metaphor and simile except in the most unoriginal way (e.g., the light shined off the golden domes like stars), but he does, especially in these sections describing the broader sweep of history, use analogies often. Most are not terribly original, but he does use them, like a good teacher, to clarify his point: soldiers entering a deserted city like pouring water on dry ground, soon both the water and ground will disappear and you'll have mud; an army after battle (I think that's what he was describing) like a dying beehive (which he describes for several pages - he truly did care deeply about agrarian life, his writing always brightens when he describes work on a farm or estate, see also Anna Karenina). Ultimately, these are some of the darkest passages (so far) in War and Peace.