Dueling in Nineteenth - Century Russia

In nineteenth-century Russia, as in many other countries at the time, the duel was one way of settling a dispute between two men. Despite the fact that it was outlawed, dueling with pistols was a socially acceptable form of conflict resolution. Customarily, it was a physical altercation that was the pretext for such a challenge, but this was not always necessary (Turgenev 116-117). In the novel Fathers and Sons, and the short stories "The Shot" and "Princess Mary," such duels occur, but each in a different manner and under different circumstances.

I will begin by giving a brief description of each duel. In Lermontov's "Princess Mary," the main character Pechorin and his antagonist, Grushnitsky, start off as friends, at least superficially, and end up dueling in the end. Pechorin is forced to challenge Grushnitsky because he has been accused by Grushnitsky of sneaking around the princess's manor. While this is actually true, Pechorin still takes offense to the accusation because he does not want anyone to know what he was doing there. This confrontation leads to a duel in which Pechorin shoots and kills Grushnitsky, who then falls off of a cliff. In "The Shot," by Pushkin, two duels occur between the same two men. The primary character in this duel is a man named Silvio and his fellow combatant was known as the Count. The first duel between these two was a result of Silvio's jealousy towards the Count. Silvio was harassing the Count and as a result the Count slapped his face, an offense that could be dealt with by only a duel. When this duel occurred, the Count missed his shot and Silvio elected to save his for a later date. When that time came, Silvio decided he could not simply murder this man and instead demonstrated his ability as a marksman by shooting a hole adjacent to the one the Count had made with his previous shot. In Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, one of the story's main characters, Bazarov, fought a duel with the other main character's uncle, Pavel. This duel was fought over the general contempt each had for the other, but more so for reasons I will discuss later. In this confrontation, each man was given two shots, but after the first volley, the duel was ended.

While there are several differences between the respective duels themselves, the primary distinction between all of them is how they were presented by the author. Turgenev gives a very realistic, believable account of a duel, unlike Pushkin. This of course is due to the difference in the writing styles of the two authors, but is notable nonetheless. In Fathers and Sons, the two combatants mark off an equal distance from each other, point, and shoot. This fight has no "frills" about it. As described by the author, it is a tense face-off in which both men fail to strike a fatal wound (Turgenev 120). In "The Shot" on the other hand, the confrontations are much more dramaticized and unrealistic. In the first match between Silvio and the Count, the Count shoots first, but acts with indifference after he misses and while he is about to be killed by Silvio. This greatly angers Silvio so he elects to take his turn later, perhaps at a time when the Count more greatly values his life (Pushkin 12-13). When Silvio next encounters the Count, he has married and is obviously shaken by the possibility that he may now be killed. It is at this point when Silvio allows the Count another shot who, in turn, misses again striking a painting on the wall. Silvio then decides that his retribution has come in the form of the Count's fear for his life, so on his way out the door he simply turns, and in a show of great skill, places a round right next to the hole in the painting. This whole ordeal seems very unrealistic to me when compared to the duel in Fathers and Sons. The idea that a man would wait so long to exact revenge, or even have the wits to think of such a thing after being shot at, seems implausible. The duel in "Princess Mary" falls somewhere between the previous two in terms of believability. While the pretext for the duel, as well as the events surrounding it, are very realistic, some of the dialogue and character interaction in this scene is not. I have a hard time believing that a man could not sacrifice some of his pride, in