Bazarov joins the others at tea, and Pavel begins interrogating Bazarov about his beliefs. Pavel makes derisive comments about Bazarov’s admiration for the German scientists. Bazarov tells Pavel that he doesn’t “believe” in anything, whether it be science, art or human institutions, but he does pay special attention to science because it “gives him the facts.”
Pavel and Nikolai leave to go talk with the overseer, and both are upset over what they have heard from the young people. They can’t understand why youth has rejected so much that the old people hold valuable. They are both perplexed, but of the two Pavel is angrier.
When the two of them are alone, Bazarov asks his friend Arkady if Pavel always acts the way he just has. He makes several derogatory comments about Pavel. Arkady defends him, maintaining that Pavel’s life story demands some sympathy; then he proceeds to tell Pavel’s life story.
Pavel was, in his youth, a “remarkably handsome” person who made women lose “their wits over him,” and provoked men to call him a fop. He won fame for his daring feats and dexterity in athletics. Even though every woman in the country was at his feet, he once met an enigmatic noble lady who could never give herself to him entirely. She was not a particularly witty person nor exceptionally beautiful, but she did possess a bizarre and haunting appeal. Pavel was entranced by her, and after a prolonged affair, the mysterious lady grew tired of him. After she left him, he followed her through most of Europe, and for a short time they resumed their relationship. But when they separated this time, it was for good. For some time, Pavel mourned his loss. He resigned his position in the army and finally retired to his brother’s farm, where he has lived ever since.
Thus, Arkady feels that one must judge Pavel with special consideration because his life has been so frustrated. Besides that, Pavel had been most generous in helping Nikolai financially whenever the need arose. Bazarov, rather than being sympathetic, is quite sarcastic and maintains that any person who allows himself to stake his life “on the card of women’s love” is not a man but simply a “male animal.” Arkady tries to explain that Pavel grew up in a different time, but Bazarov cynically maintains that “It’s all romanticism, nonsense, rottenness, art.” He prefers to go and look at some frogs or beetles.
