Hadji Murat (novel)
Encyclopedia
Hadji Murat is a short novel written by Leo Tolstoy
from 1896 to 1904 and published posthumously in 1912 (though not in full until 1917). It is Tolstoy’s final work. The protagonist is Hadji Murat, an Avar
rebel commander who, for reasons of personal revenge, forges an uneasy alliance with the Russians he had been fighting.
while he was serving in the Caucasus
, according to letters he wrote to his brother Sergei. The thistle
described at the opening of the story was actually encountered by Tolstoy near his country estate and led him to remember the character and create a story about him. The theme of struggle while remaining faithful resonated with Tolstoy even though he was in ailing health; later letters suggest this work gave him a brief, final moment of vigor. Just as the author was struggling with his near death, his extended meditation on the concept of the individual refusing to give in to the demands of the world helped him to complete the book, although he himself had no inclination to publish it and was only concerned with its completion. In addition to the theme of resistance, there are many other ideas that can be found in the novel, such as determinism
; this echoes Tolstoy's major work War and Peace
. An even clearer theme is the struggle between a Europeanized Russia
and Muslim
Chechnya
, the classic West vs. East theme found in Russian history and many different stories and novels (and which is once again pertinent in light of First
and Second Chechen War
s in Chechnya and Russia). The work is very similar to Alexander Pushkin’s work The Captain's Daughter
in that it is a realist
work based on actual people and events and has a similar direction, though the main character in this novel does not meet the same end. Tolstoy used material in Russian archives, including Hadji Murad's own account of his life.
, the commander of the Caucasian separatists, who is at war with the Russians. They find refuge at the house of Sado, a loyal supporter. However, the villagers learn of his presence, and he must flee again.
His lieutenant succeeds in making contact with the Russians, who promise to meet Murat. He eventually arrives outside of the fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya to join the Russian forces, in hopes of eventually defeating Shamil. Before his arrival, a small skirmish occurs with some Chechens outside the fortress, and a young man named Petrukha Avdeyev dies after being shot. The narrator makes a chapter length aside about Petrukha: childless, he had joined the military in place of his brother, the family man. His father regrets this because he was such a better worker. Although the family mourns when Petrukha dies, his wife is somewhat happy since she is pregnant with another man’s child.
While at Vozdvizhenskaya, Murat befriends Prince Semyon Vorontsov
, his wife Maria and his son during his stay and wins over the good will of the soldiers stationed there. They are at once in awe of his physique and reputation, and enjoy his company and find him honest and upright. The Vorontsovs give him a present of a watch that he is fascinated with.
On his fifth day of Murat's stay, the governor-general’s adjutant Loris-Melikov arrives with orders to write down Murat’s story, and the reader learns some of his history: he was born in the village of Tselmes and early on became close to the local khans because his mother was the royal family's wetnurse. When he was fifteen some followers of Murid
ism come into his village calling for a holy war against Russia. Murat declines at first but after a learned man is sent to explain how it will be run, he tentatively agrees. However, in their first confrontation, Shamil—then a lieutenant for the anti-Russian Muslims—embarrasses Murat when he goes to speak with the leader Gamzat
. Gamzat eventually launches an attack on the capital of Khunzakh and kills the pro-Russian khans, taking control of the Chechens. The slaughter of the khans throws Hadji and his brother against Gamzat, and they eventually succeed in tricking and killing him, causing his followers to flee. Unfortunately, Murat's brother was killed in the attempt and Shamil simply replaces Gazmat as leader. He calls on Murat to join his struggle, but Murat refuses because the blood of his brother and the khans are on Shamil.
Once Murat has joined the Russians, who are aware of his position and bargaining ability, they find him the perfect tool for getting to Shamil. However, Vortonsov’s plans are ruined by Chernyshov, a prince who is jealous of him, and Murat has to remain in the fortress because the emperor is told he is possibly a spy. The story digresses for a bit and Tolstoy depicts Nicholas I of Russia
, showing his tendency towards women and his condescending nature, as well as his enjoyment in terrifying his subjects.
The emperor orders an attack on the Chechens and Murat remains in the fortress. Meanwhile, Murat’s mother, wife and eldest son Yusuf, who had been captured by Shamil, were moved to a more defendible location. Realizing his position (neither trusted by the Russians to lead an army against Shamil, nor able to return to Shamil because he will be killed) he decides to flee the fortress to gather men to save his family.
At this point the narrative jumps forward in time, to the arrival of a group of soldiers at the fortress bearing Murat's severed head. While Maria Dimitriyevna—companion of one of the officers and friend of by Murat—comments on the cruelty of men during times of war, the soldiers tell the story of Murat's death. He had escaped the fortress and shook his usual Russian escort with the help of his five lieutenants. After they escape they come upon marsh that they are unable to cross, and hide amongst some bushes until the morning. An old man gives away their position and Karganov, the commander of the fortress, the soldiers, and some Cossacks surround the area. Hadji and his men fortify themselves and begin to fire upon the troops, dying valiantly. Hadji himself runs into fire after his men are killed, despite being wounded and plugging up his fatal wounds in his body with cloth. As he fires his last bullet his life flashes before him and the soldiers think he’s dead; he gets up as if to continue attacking and then falls over. Victorious, the Russian soldiers fall upon and decapitate him. The nightingales, which stopped singing during the battle, begin again and the narrator ends by mentioning the thistle once more.
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
from 1896 to 1904 and published posthumously in 1912 (though not in full until 1917). It is Tolstoy’s final work. The protagonist is Hadji Murat, an Avar
Caucasian Avars
Avars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group. The Caucasian Avar language belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family ....
rebel commander who, for reasons of personal revenge, forges an uneasy alliance with the Russians he had been fighting.
Inspiration
Tolstoy seems to have first heard of the historical Hadji MuradHadji Murad
Hadji Murad was an important Avar leader during the resistance of the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya in 1811-1864 against the incorporation of the region into Russian Empire.-Alliance with Russia:...
while he was serving in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, according to letters he wrote to his brother Sergei. The thistle
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
described at the opening of the story was actually encountered by Tolstoy near his country estate and led him to remember the character and create a story about him. The theme of struggle while remaining faithful resonated with Tolstoy even though he was in ailing health; later letters suggest this work gave him a brief, final moment of vigor. Just as the author was struggling with his near death, his extended meditation on the concept of the individual refusing to give in to the demands of the world helped him to complete the book, although he himself had no inclination to publish it and was only concerned with its completion. In addition to the theme of resistance, there are many other ideas that can be found in the novel, such as determinism
Determinism
Determinism is the general philosophical thesis that states that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. There are many versions of this thesis. Each of them rests upon various alleged connections, and interdependencies of things and...
; this echoes Tolstoy's major work War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
. An even clearer theme is the struggle between a Europeanized Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, the classic West vs. East theme found in Russian history and many different stories and novels (and which is once again pertinent in light of First
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
and Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
s in Chechnya and Russia). The work is very similar to Alexander Pushkin’s work The Captain's Daughter
The Captain's Daughter
The Captain's Daughter is a historical novel by the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. It was first published in 1836 in the fourth issue of the literary journal Sovremennik. The novel is a romanticized account of Pugachev's Rebellion in 1773-1774....
in that it is a realist
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
work based on actual people and events and has a similar direction, though the main character in this novel does not meet the same end. Tolstoy used material in Russian archives, including Hadji Murad's own account of his life.
Plot summary
The narrator prefaces the story with his comments on a crushed, but still living thistle he finds in a field (a symbol for the main character), after which and then begins to tell the story of Hadji Murat. Murat is a separatist guerrilla who falls out with his own commander and eventually sides with the Russians in hope of saving his family. The story opens with Murat and two of his followers fleeing from ShamilImam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
, the commander of the Caucasian separatists, who is at war with the Russians. They find refuge at the house of Sado, a loyal supporter. However, the villagers learn of his presence, and he must flee again.
His lieutenant succeeds in making contact with the Russians, who promise to meet Murat. He eventually arrives outside of the fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya to join the Russian forces, in hopes of eventually defeating Shamil. Before his arrival, a small skirmish occurs with some Chechens outside the fortress, and a young man named Petrukha Avdeyev dies after being shot. The narrator makes a chapter length aside about Petrukha: childless, he had joined the military in place of his brother, the family man. His father regrets this because he was such a better worker. Although the family mourns when Petrukha dies, his wife is somewhat happy since she is pregnant with another man’s child.
While at Vozdvizhenskaya, Murat befriends Prince Semyon Vorontsov
Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov
Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov , was a Russian prince and field-marshal, renowned for his success in the Napoleonic wars, and most famous for his participation in the Caucasian War from 1844 to 1853....
, his wife Maria and his son during his stay and wins over the good will of the soldiers stationed there. They are at once in awe of his physique and reputation, and enjoy his company and find him honest and upright. The Vorontsovs give him a present of a watch that he is fascinated with.
On his fifth day of Murat's stay, the governor-general’s adjutant Loris-Melikov arrives with orders to write down Murat’s story, and the reader learns some of his history: he was born in the village of Tselmes and early on became close to the local khans because his mother was the royal family's wetnurse. When he was fifteen some followers of Murid
Murid
Murid is a Sufi term meaning 'committed one' from the root meaning "willpower" or "self-esteem". It refers to a person who is committed to a Murshid in a Tariqa of Sufism. Also known as a Salik , a murid is an initiate into the mystic philosophy of Sufism. When the Talib makes a pledge to a...
ism come into his village calling for a holy war against Russia. Murat declines at first but after a learned man is sent to explain how it will be run, he tentatively agrees. However, in their first confrontation, Shamil—then a lieutenant for the anti-Russian Muslims—embarrasses Murat when he goes to speak with the leader Gamzat
Gamzat-bek
Gamzat-bek , Hamza-Bek, was the second imam of the Caucasian Imamate, who succeeded Ghazi Mollah upon his death in 1832.Gamzat-bek was a son of one of the Avar beks...
. Gamzat eventually launches an attack on the capital of Khunzakh and kills the pro-Russian khans, taking control of the Chechens. The slaughter of the khans throws Hadji and his brother against Gamzat, and they eventually succeed in tricking and killing him, causing his followers to flee. Unfortunately, Murat's brother was killed in the attempt and Shamil simply replaces Gazmat as leader. He calls on Murat to join his struggle, but Murat refuses because the blood of his brother and the khans are on Shamil.
Once Murat has joined the Russians, who are aware of his position and bargaining ability, they find him the perfect tool for getting to Shamil. However, Vortonsov’s plans are ruined by Chernyshov, a prince who is jealous of him, and Murat has to remain in the fortress because the emperor is told he is possibly a spy. The story digresses for a bit and Tolstoy depicts Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
, showing his tendency towards women and his condescending nature, as well as his enjoyment in terrifying his subjects.
The emperor orders an attack on the Chechens and Murat remains in the fortress. Meanwhile, Murat’s mother, wife and eldest son Yusuf, who had been captured by Shamil, were moved to a more defendible location. Realizing his position (neither trusted by the Russians to lead an army against Shamil, nor able to return to Shamil because he will be killed) he decides to flee the fortress to gather men to save his family.
At this point the narrative jumps forward in time, to the arrival of a group of soldiers at the fortress bearing Murat's severed head. While Maria Dimitriyevna—companion of one of the officers and friend of by Murat—comments on the cruelty of men during times of war, the soldiers tell the story of Murat's death. He had escaped the fortress and shook his usual Russian escort with the help of his five lieutenants. After they escape they come upon marsh that they are unable to cross, and hide amongst some bushes until the morning. An old man gives away their position and Karganov, the commander of the fortress, the soldiers, and some Cossacks surround the area. Hadji and his men fortify themselves and begin to fire upon the troops, dying valiantly. Hadji himself runs into fire after his men are killed, despite being wounded and plugging up his fatal wounds in his body with cloth. As he fires his last bullet his life flashes before him and the soldiers think he’s dead; he gets up as if to continue attacking and then falls over. Victorious, the Russian soldiers fall upon and decapitate him. The nightingales, which stopped singing during the battle, begin again and the narrator ends by mentioning the thistle once more.