graf Leo Tolstoy

“ PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I'd better go.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Yes, do.
Prince Abrézkov takes leave of both women, and exit.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Listen, Lisa ... I am very sorry for you, and I like you. But I love Victor. He is the one being I love in the world. I know his soul as I know my own. It is a proud soul. He was proud as a boy of seven.... Not proud of his name or wealth, but proud of his character and innocence, which he has guarded. He is as pure as a maiden.
LISA. I know.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. He has never loved any woman. You are the first. I do not say I am not jealous. I am jealous. ”

“ KARÉNIN [reads] “Lisa and Victor, I address myself to you both. I won't lie and call you ‘dear’ or anything else. I cannot master the feeling of bitterness and reproach (I reproach myself, but all the same it is painful) when I think of you and of your love and happiness. I know everything. I know that though I was the husband, I have—by a series of accidents—been in your way. C'est moi qui suis l'intrus. [22] But all the same, I cannot restrain a feeling of bitterness and coldness towards you. I love you both in theory, especially Lisa, Lisette! ”

“ FÉDYA. I'll tell you something. I have had my passions, and once I was in love with a lady—very handsome—and I loved her nastily, like a dog. She gave me a rendezvous. And I did not go, because I thought it was treating the husband shabbily. And it is strange that, even now, when I remember it I want to feel pleased and to approve of myself for having acted honourably, but I always repent as if I had committed a sin! But in the case of Másha, on the contrary, I am always pleased—pleased that I did not pollute that feeling of mine.... ”

“ FÉDYA [taking out a revolver and putting it on the table] Wait a bit!
IVÁN PETRÓVICH. What's that? Do you want to shoot yourself? You can if you like. I understand you! They wish to humiliate you, and you will show them the sort of man you are! You will kill yourself with a revolver, and them with magnanimity. I understand you. I understand everything, because I am a genius. ”

“ Victor Karénin is her old friend and mine too. He loves her, and she him.
SÁSHA. No!
FÉDYA. She does—as an honest, moral woman can, who does not allow herself to love anyone but her husband. But she loves, and will love him when this obstacle [points to himself] is removed; and I will remove it, and they shall be happy! [His voice trembles] .
SÁSHA. Fédya, don't talk like that!
FÉDYA. Why, you know very well that it's true! And I shall be glad of their happiness, and it's the best I can do. I shall not return, but shall give them their freedom.... Tell them so.... ”

“ PETUSHKÓV. Yes, your life is astonishing.
FÉDYA. No, it's most simple! You know, in the society in which I was born there are only three careers open to a man—only three. The first is to enter the civil or military service, to earn money and increase the abominations amid which we live. That was repulsive to me. Perhaps I had not the capacity for it; but above all it repelled me. Then the second is to destroy those abominations. To do that you must be a hero; and I am not a hero. And the third is to forget it all by going on the spree, drinking and singing. ”

“ It is very painful to cut into the quick.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Of course it is; but then their marriage has long had a rift in it, so that the tearing asunder was easier than one would have thought. He himself sees that, after what has occurred, it is impossible for him to return.
KARÉNIN. Why so?
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. How can you expect it, after all his horrid goings-on—after he swore it should not happen again, and that if it did he would renounce all rights as a husband and set her perfectly free?
KARÉNIN. Yes, but how can a woman be free when she is bound by marriage?
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. By divorce. ”

“ It is only when I drink that I do not feel this shame. And music: not operas or Beethoven, but gipsies!... That is life! Energy flows into one's veins! And then those dear black eyes, and those smiles! And the more delicious it is, the more ashamed one feels afterwards.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. How about work?
FÉDYA. I have tried it, but it's no good. I am always dissatisfied with it—but what's the use of talking about myself! I thank you.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. Then what am I to say?
FÉDYA. Tell them I will do what they wish. They want to get married, and that there should be no obstacle to their marriage? ”

“ ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. The one thing I can't understand is how you reconcile your desire to marry Mrs. Protásova, who has a husband living, with your religious conviction that divorce is contrary to Christianity.
VICTOR. Mother, this is cruel of you! Are we really so immaculate that we must always be perfectly consistent when life is so complex? Mother, why are you so cruel to me?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. I love you. I desire your happiness.
VICTOR [to Prince Abrézkov] Prince!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. Of course you desire his happiness. But it is not easy for you and me, with our grey hairs, to understand the young ”

“ He promised her a divorce, and we shall insist on it.
KARÉNIN. Yes, but Elisabeth Andréyevna loved him so....
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Ah, but her love has suffered such trials that there can hardly be anything left of it! Drunkenness, deception, and infidelity ... Can one love such a husband?
KARÉNIN. Nothing is impossible to love.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. You talk of love! But how can one love such a man—a broken reed, whom one can never depend on? ”

“ Lying, acting so disgusting a comedy, bribing the Consistorium, and all those horrors, are intolerably repulsive to me. Vile as I may be, I am vile in a different way, and cannot take part in those abominations—simply cannot! The solution at which I have arrived is the simplest: to be happy, you must marry. I am in the way; consequently I must destroy myself....”
LISA [seizes Victor's hand] Victor!
KARÉNIN [reads] “... must destroy myself. And I will do it. When you get this letter, I shall be no more.
“P.S. What a pity you sent me money to pay for the divorce proceedings! ”

“ Lisa Protásova is a very nice good woman. I know her, through my niece Nelly, and know her to be a modest, kind-hearted, affectionate and moral woman.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. A moral woman—who makes up her mind to leave her husband!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. This is not like you! You're unkind and harsh! Her husband is the kind of man of whom one says that they are their own worst enemies; but he is an even greater enemy to his wife. He is a weak, fallen, drunken fellow. He has squandered all his property and hers too. She has a child.... How can you condemn her for leaving such a man? ”

“ You have spoken with Victor?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I have: and I think he loves her. He has grown used to loving her; and love has got a great hold on him. He is a man who takes things slowly but firmly. What has once entered his heart will never leave it again; and he will never love anyone but her; and he can never be happy without her, or with anyone else.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. And how willingly Várya Kazántseva would have married him! What a girl she is, and how she loves him!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV [smiling] . C'est compter sans son hôte! ”

“ And you know, we love people for the good we do them, and dislike them for the harm we do them; and I did her much harm. She seemed to love me ...
PETUSHKÓV. Why do you say “seemed”?
FÉDYA. I say it because there was never anything about her that made her creep into my soul as Másha did. But that's not what I meant to say. When she was pregnant, or nursing her baby, I used to vanish, and come home drunk; and of course, just because of that, I loved her less and less. Yes, yes! [in ecstasy] I have it! The reason I love Másha is that I did her good and not harm. That's why I love her. ”

“ I am a good-for-nothing; but there are things I cannot do quietly. I cannot quietly tell lies.
269 PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I don't understand you! You, a capable, intelligent man, so sensitive to what is good—how can you let yourself be so carried away—so forget what you expect of yourself? How have you ruined your life and come to this?
FÉDYA [forcing back tears of emotion] I have led this disorderly life for ten years, and this is the first time a man like you has pitied me! I have been pitied by my boon-companions, by rakes and by women; but a reasonable, good man like you ... ”

“ If you'd then subscribed ten thousand roubles or so to the choir, you might have had her honourably. But now you've squandered everything, and carry her off by stealth! It's a shame, sir, a shame!
MÁSHA. He has not carried me off! I came to him myself, and if you take me away now, I shall come back again. I love him, and there's an end of it! My love is stronger than all your locks ... I won't!
NASTÁSIA. Come, Másha dearest! Come, my own! Don't sulk. You've done wrong, and now come along.
IVÁN. Now then, you've talked enough! March! [Seizes her hand] Excuse us, sir! [Exit the three gipsies] . ”

“ And so we were all living, when suddenly a blackmailing scoundrel appears who wants me to take part in his rascality, and I send him about his business. Then he comes to you, to the champion of Justice! The guardian of Morality! And you, who receive each month a few pounds for doing your dirty work, put on your uniform, and calmly bully these people—bully people whose little finger is worth more than your whole body and soul! People who would not admit you to their anteroom! ”

“ Lisa is silent.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. I see! That's just what you want—I'm in your way.... I can't live so. I can't make you out at all! It's all so new-fangled—first you make up 241your mind to separate, then you suddenly send for a man who is in love with you ...
LISA. Nothing of the kind.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Karénin proposed to you ... and you send him to fetch your husband! Why? To arouse jealousy?
LISA. Mother, what you are saying is terrible! Leave me alone!
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Very well! Turn your mother out of the house, and let in your rake of a husband!... Yes, I will not remain here! ”

“ OFFICER. It's better than any novel. Only I don't understand how she could love him so. Dreadful object!
The other door opens. The accused come out: first Lisa, then Karénin. They pass along the corridor. Fédya follows alone.
LADY. Hush—here he is! Look how excited he seems!
Lady and Officer pass on.
FÉDYA [approaches Iván Petróvich] Have you brought it?
IVÁN PETRÓVICH. Here it is. [Hands Fédya something] .
FÉDYA [Hides it in his pocket, and wishes to pass out, but sees Petushkóv] Stupid! Vile! Dreary, dreary! Senseless. [Wishes to pass] .
Enter Counsel Petrúshin; stout, red, and animated. ”

“ FÉDYA. Directly! [Takes out revolver and shoots himself in the heart. Falls. All rush on him] All right, I think it is done.... Lisa!...
The audience, judges, accused, and witnesses rush out from all the doors.
In front of all is Lisa. Behind her Másha, Karénin, Iván Petróvich and Prince Abrézkov.
LISA. Fédya, what have you done! Why?
FÉDYA. Forgive me that I could not ... free you any other way.... It's not for you ... it's best for me. I have long ... been ready ...
LISA. You will live!
301 A Doctor bends over Fédya and listens.
FÉDYA. I need no doctor to tell me ... Good-bye, Victor ... ”

“ I return the money. My 280way of escape is shorter, cheaper, and surer. All I ask is, don't be angry with me, and think kindly of me. And, one thing more—there is a clockmaker, Evgényev, here. Can't you help him, and set him on his feet? He's a good man, though weak.—Good-bye,
“Fédya.”
LISA. He has taken his life! Yes ...
KARÉNIN [rings, and runs out to the hall] Call Mr. Voznesénsky back!
LISA. I knew it! I knew it! Fédya, dear Fédya!
KARÉNIN. Lisa!
LISA. It's not true, not true that I didn't love him and don't love him! I love only him! I love him! And I've killed him. Leave me! ”

“ You say it's horrid when one has no money? There's nothing more horrid. But you, in your 286position, should always have money. Aren't you a corpse? Well then ...
FÉDYA. Excuse me! I did not speak to you and don't want your advice.
ARTÉMYEV. But I want to give it! You are a corpse; but suppose you come to life again? Then they, your wife and that gentleman, who are so happy—they would be bigamists, and at best would be sent to the less distant parts of Siberia. So why should you lack money?
FÉDYA. I beg you to leave me alone.
ARTÉMYEV. Simply write a letter. ”

“ Our relations to one another are complex—a spiritual struggle such as you know nothing of, a struggle between good and evil goes on. That struggle ends in a manner which sets them free. They were all at peace. ”

“ Who can make it out? She opens heaven for me, and then asks for money to buy scents with! [To Másha] Why, you don't in the least understand what you're doing!
MÁSHA. Not understand indeed! I understand that when I am in love, I try to please my man, and sing all the better.
FÉDYA. Do you love me?
MÁSHA. Looks like it!
FÉDYA. Wonderful! [Kisses her] .
Exeunt most of the gipsies. Some couples remain: Fédya with Másha, Afrémov with Kátya, and the officer with Gásha. The musician writes. A gipsy man strums a valse tune on the guitar.
244 FÉDYA. But I'm married, and your choir won't allow it.... ”

“ Mais, c'est plus fort que moi! [17]
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. How could she live with such a man? If she had not loved anyone else she would have had to leave him. She would have had to, for her child's sake. The husband himself—an intelligent kind-hearted man when he is in his senses—advises her to do it....
Enter Victor, who kisses his mother's hand and greets Prince Abrézkov.
259 VICTOR. Mother, I have come to say this: Elisabeth Andréyevna will be here in a minute, and I beg, I implore you—if you still refuse your consent to my marriage ... ”