Ostensibly these chapters reveal the limited nature of Nikolay Rostov as he becomes aware of a conflict between personal goals and the"system." Tolstoy brings Nikolay to question authority for the first time when he appeals to the tsar for Denisov's pardon. What these chapters finally illustrate, however, is the entire ethical system under which feudal Russia operates.
Unlike Pierre and Prince Andrey, Nikolay Rostov does not strive to transcend the"outer" man to achieve freedom and self-definition. In fact, he recognizes no conflict between the demands of the individual and society, between instinct and intellect. Through the incidents that lead up to his petitioning for Denisov, Nikolay reaffirms his place in the fixed order of the universe where God's laws operate through the divine right of the tsar and through the structure of the state. He decides that questioning this structure is a heresy whose end result is anarchy.
Tolstoy does not condemn Rostov for his blind obedience to authority as modern readers would expect him to do. Rather, Tolstoy shows that this"blind obedience" is based on a rational system of ethics which demands the same acquiescence of Alexander as it does of Rostov. Man's highest virtue, according to Nikolay (and the tsar) is in doing one's duty. Sentiment and personal feeling must give way to higher, more universal demands, as manifest in the universal institution of the state. Even Alexander loses his individuality when he chooses to deny Denisov's petition. Although personal sentiment might persuade the tsar to confer the pardon, the demands of universal law impose a higher duty."The law is mightier than I," speaks the divine-right monarch who cannot, by virtue of his function, express his temporal personal self.
