Why do Bazarov and Pavel Petrovitch duel?

Pavel Petrovitch Kirsanov — aristocratic, idle, proud — despises Bazarov’s nihilism and rudeness. Insults about Fenitchka and class propriety escalate until Pavel challenges Bazarov to a duel with pistols. Bazarov wounds Pavel lightly; honor satisfied, the old world and new collide without full murder.

The duel is generational conflict made physical. Pavel fights for manners Bazarov finds dead; Bazarov accepts partly to prove courage is not only peasant medicine. Turgenev treats the scene with melancholy comedy — outdated ritual neither side truly wants. Link to Pavel’s backstory of lost love to see personal bitterness fueling ideology.