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Chapter Six Nicholas: Hamletizing Horatio AS WE HAVE SEEN, Tolstoy's theme throughout Natasha 's and Pierre's development has been the indivisibility of opposites: for Natasha, of joy and sorrow; for Pierre, good and evil. Nicholas Rostov lacks Pierre's philosophical inclinations-abstract questions about the meaning of life or God's goals for mankind do not keep him awake at night. Indeed God never enters his mind, for he puts his faith in man-not in some heavenly father but in his emperor, Tsar Alexander, and in the tsar's power, through example, to uphold right over wrong. Nicholas's approach to life is neither dreamy nor absent-minded, like Pierre's, but headlong-assuming the absolute separation of Right from Wrong and compelled to strike out here and now, impetuously if need be, in defense of honor, truth, justice, loyalty, or any other virtue embodied in his tsar. Because he is so obviously foolish at the age of sixteen, Nicholas's gradual growth toward wisdom (that is, toward realizing the indivisibility of right and wrong) is particularly easy to trace. One example would be his changing concept of patriotism, which evolves from a childish fervor to unselfconscious professionalism beginning with his outburst at the family's name day dinner party in the summer of 1805. Colonel Schubert, after arguing hotly with the cynical Shinshin over the necessity of sending troops abroad to fight Napoleon and establish peace in Europe, turns to Nicholas and asks his opinion: "I am quite ofyour opinion," replied Nicholas, flaming up, turning his plate round and moving his wine glasses about with as much decision and desperation as though he were at that moment facing some great danger. "I am convinced that we Russians must die or conquer," he concluded, conscious-as were others-after the words were uttered that his remarks were too enthusiastic and emphatic for the occasion and were therefore awkward. (1:9) His overreaction, "flaming up" as though he were in actual danger, is understandable in a sixteen-year-old boy on his way to serve his country; but the response is determined less by sincerity or impulsiveness than by the impression he wants to make on others, and for that reason is so divorced from 63 Tolstoy's Phoenix reality that even he suspects his remarks are unsuited to the occasion. What he said was foolish; but his sense of its foolishness marks the beginning of wisdom. This pattern is repeated at Enns Bridge. Nicholas starts out with the intensely personal desire to prove himself to Colonel Schubert; but he trips on a patch of mud while trying to stay out in front of everyone, and runs to the middle of the bridge where he is a perfect target for enemy grapeshot. "There was no one to hew down ... nor could he help to fire the bridge because he had not brought any burning straw with him like the other soldiers" (2:5). So he just stands there, looking around in a kind of stupor. As at the name day party, it is role-playing and false preconceptions that make his behavior ridiculous. And, just as he became conscious of awkwardness at the name day party, so here on the bridge he finally becomes conscious of reality. Thinking death "is here above me and around.... Another instant and I shall never again see the sun, this water, that gorge," he runs off the bridge feeling "sickening agitation" from guilt about his imagined cowardice, but nevertheless praying for his life.l The pattern is again repeated at Schon Grabern, but in such a way as to show Nicholas's slight development in the direction of a wiser selfishness. He is still wrapped in his own imaginary heroics, but at least they are specific and their goal is a successful cavalry charge, rather than proving something to his commanding officer. As at Enns, owing to his romantic preconceptions he becomes "more and more happy and animated" galloping out front, gripping his saber. Even after he has been unhorsed and hurt in the fall, he persists in clinging to his naive preconceptions-refusing to believe that the French coming toward him would want to kill him. Then, as at Enns and at the name day party, role-playing is replaced by wisdom as he regains his grip on reality and runs for the nearby bushes. "He did not now run with the feeling of doubt and conflict with which he had...

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