What secret society does Pierre consider joining in the novel?

Pierre considers joining—and ultimately joins—the Freemasons in War and Peace. After his unhappy marriage, moral confusion, and dissatisfaction with aristocratic society, Pierre is invited to enter the Brotherhood of Freemasons.

Pierre is attracted to the organization because he hopes it will give his life a moral purpose. The Masonic ideals presented to him include brotherhood, charity, self-discipline, equality, and spiritual improvement. His initiation marks a new phase in his search for meaning after his earlier fascination with Napoleon and his reckless duel with Dolokhov.

Tolstoy does not portray Pierre’s membership as a simple solution. Pierre sincerely wants to reform himself and help others, but he remains impulsive and struggles to distinguish genuine virtue from ceremony, mysticism, and social fashion. He later notices that some members are motivated mainly by status or connections.

The Decembrists are an easy historical mix-up because Pierre later becomes associated with political ideas that resemble the reformist currents surrounding the Decembrist movement. However, the secret society he considers joining in the novel is the Freemasons.