156of364

Tolstoy is digging into the mind of someone like Hélène. He shows her as being simply motivated by pleasure and truly just wanting to have a good time, both for herself and, here, Natasha. But we’re also getting insight into the mind of a stupid person, as Pierre has told us about and now we’re seeing, and how she doesn’t consider consequences for others at all. She’s cruel because she’s stupid, not evil.