Count Nikolai Ilyitch Rostov (Николай Ильич Ростов Nikolaj Il'ič Rostov) is a character in Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

's novel War and Peace

War and Peace

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...

.

Brief background

Count Nikolai is the brother of Vera Rostova, Natasha Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Countess Natalya "Natasha" Ilyinichna Rostova is a central fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.-Biography:...

 and Petya Rostov

Petya Rostov

Count Pyotr "Petya" Ilyich Rostov is a character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. The youngest member of the Rostov family, Petya is initially a minor character, however towards the end of the novel Petya's importance to the plot increases as he joins the Russian army in their defence...

. At the start of the novel, Nikolai is aged 20 and a university student. He gives up his studies in a zealous desire to serve his country as a Hussar

Hussar

Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....

 in the fight against Napoleon's French invading forces. He dreams of manly success and glory in battle, although these dreams are somewhat undermined after he falls and is injured in a battle. Nikolai is initially easily influenced and acts out of emotional responses; unlike his childhood friend, the social climber Boris Drubetskoy, to whom Dimitri Pisarev

Dimitri Pisarev

Dimitri Ivanovich Pisarev was a radical Russian writer and social critic who, according to Georgi Plekhanov, "spent the best years of his life in a fortress"....

 regards Nikolai "as the complete antithesis. He refuses to use his family's contacts to improve his rank in the army, and comes under the influence of the psychopathic Dolokhov, acting as his second in a duel

Duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

. Nikolai promises to marry his cousin Sonya but on his first leave home he pays no attention to her, and regularly goes to visit a courtesan

Courtesan

A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

. When Dolokhov proposes to Sonya and is rejected, Nikolai is easily led to financial ruin and social humiliation by Dolokhov, who manipulates him into losing a vast sum at cards. Despite Sonya's rejection of Dolokhov, Nikolai later rejects her to marry the rich but plain heiress Princess Maria. In doing so he rejects Sonya's emotional attachments and her selfless desire to love in favour of the immediate and practical benefits of Maria's wealth.

External links

• "Nikolai Rostov (Character) from War and Peace (1956)," The Internet Movie Database