of this terrible
tragedy lead up to a striking climax, and set off, one against the
other, temperaments so entirely opposed that the reciprocal
tenderness of the father and son is transformed finally into
suspicion and hate, and the father resolves to sacrifice the life of
his son to what appears to him to be the right of the State. The
novel, although a little overburdened with details, is an excellent
analysis of the customs of the Russia of former times.

The source of the struggle between Peter and Alexis was known. Peter
represented the West and the new ideas, while Alexis represented the
Russia of old, rebellious to innovations which she considered
dangerous. The author thus symbolizes the eternal conflict between
the past and the future. He has analyzed with consummate art the
characters of his two heroes. Peter is a man full of contrasts; he
is, like many Russians, "a brute and a child," by turns violent and
gentle, knavish and simple, cruel and kind, practical and mystical,
proud and modest. Possessed of a prodigious activity, he conceives
tremendous projects which he immediately wants to put into
execution, inspecting everything, verifying everything, finding no
care beneath his dignity, talking to the workingmen as if he were
one of them, not making long speeches, and fiercely, with cries of
rage, fighting dishonest contractors and tradesmen.

Set over against this irascible father, endowed with herculean
strength, the Tsarevich Alexis, thin, pale, and delicate, makes a
sad figure. Most historians, following the example of Voltaire, have
represented this prince as a narrow-minded person, a victim of the
bigoted and intolerant education of the clergy. Merezhkovsky, a more
discreet psychologist, does not rely on these superficial data, but
shades the portrait admirably. He makes Alexis an intelligent man,
not like his father, but a man with a comprehensive, subtle spirit.
He probably was crushed by the powerful individuality of his father.
As he is closely in touch with the people, and knows their
aspirations, Alexis judges the work of his father with delicate
insight: "My father hopes," he says, "to do everything in a great
hurry. One, two, three, and the affair is settled. He does not
realize that things done hastily do not last...."

While Peter is aware of his unpopularity, his son is loved by the
townspeople, the peasants, and the clergy. They say that, "Alexis is
a man who seeks God and who does not