The Possessed
doesn't exist.
STAVROGIN: I seem indeed to remember our con-
versations.
SHATOV: The devil take your conversations!
[There 'were no conversations! There was simply
a master proclaiming great truths and a disciple
rising from the dead. I was the disciple and you
were the master.
STAVROGIN: Great truths, really?
SHATOV: Yes, really.] Wasn't it you who told me
79 Scene 6
that if it were mathematically proven that truth
stood apart from Christ, you would rather be
with Christ than with truth? [Wasn't it you who
used to say that the blind life-force driving a
nation in search of its god is greater than reason
and science and that it alone determines good and
evil, and that hence the Russian nation, if it is to
march in the van of humanity, must follow its
Christ? ] I believed you. The seed germinated in
me, and?
STAVROGIN: I am happy for your sake.
SHATOV: Drop that pose! Drop it at once or I'll
. . . Yes, you told me all that. And at the same
time you used to say just the opposite to Kirilov,
as I learned from him in America. You were
pouring falsehood and negation into his heart.
You were driving his reason toward madness.
Have you seen him since? Have you contem-
plated your handiwork?
STAVROGIN: Let me point out to you that Kirilov
himself has just told me he was utterly happy.
SHATOV: That is not what I am asking you. How
could you tell him one thing and me the oppo-
site?
STAVROGIN: Probably I was trying, in both cases,
to persuade myself.
SHATOV (with a note of despair): And now you
are an atheist and don't believe what you taught
me?
STAVROGIN: And you?
SHATOV: I believe in Russia, in its orthodoxy, in
the body of Christ. . . . I believe that the second
coming will take place in Russia. I believe?
Second Part
80
STAVROGIN": And in God?
SHATOV: I ... I shall believe in God one day.
STAVROGIN: That's just it. You don't believe. Be-
sides, can anyone be intelligent and still believe?
It's an impossibility.
SHATOV: NO, I didn't say that I didn't believe. We
are all dead or half dead and incapable of believ-
ing. But men must rise up, and you must be the
first. I am the only one who knows your intelli-
gence, your genius, the breadth of your culture,
of your conceptions. In the whole world each
generation produces but a handful of superior
men, two or three. You are one of them. You are
the only one, yes, the only one who can raise the
flag.
STAVROGIN: I note that everyone at the moment
wants to thrust a flag into my hands. Verkhoven-
sky, too, would like me to bear their flag. But he
does so because he admires what he calls my "ex-
traordinary aptitude for crime." What should I
make of all this?
SHATOV: I know that you are also a monster. That
you have been heard to assert that you saw no
difference between any bestial act and a great
deed of sacrifice. [It is even said that in St. Peters-
burg you belonged to a secret society that in-
dulged in revolting debauches.] They say, they
also say?but I can't believe this?that you used
to attract children to your house to defile them.
. . . (STAVROGIN suddenly rises.) Answer. Tell
the truth. Nicholas Stavrogin cannot lie to Sha-
tov, who struck him in the face. Did you do that?
If you did it, you could not bear the flag and I
8i
Scene 6
should understand your despair and your help-
lessness.
STAVROGIN: Enough. Such questions are unseemly.
(He stares at SHATOV.) What does it matter any-
way? / am interested only in more ordinary ques-
tions. Such as: should one live or should one
destroy oneself?
SHATOV: Like Kirilov?
STAVROGIN (ivith a sort of melancholy): Like
Kirilov. But he will go all the way. He is a Christ.
? SHATOV: And you . . . Would you be capable of
destroying yourself?
STAVROGIN (painfully): I ought to! I ought to!
But I am afraid of being too cowardly. Perhaps I
shall do so tomorrow. Perhaps never. That is the
question . . . the only question I ask myself.
SHATOV (hurling himself at STAVROGIN and seizing
him by the shoulder): That's what you are
seeking. You are seeking punishment. Kiss the
ground, water it with your tears, beg for mercy!
STAVROGIN: Hands off, Shatov. (He holds him at
a distance, and with an expression of pain) just
remember: I could have killed you the other day
and I folded my hands behind my back. So don't
persecute me.
SHATOV (leaping backward): Oh, why am I con-
demned to believe in you and to love you? I can-
not tear you from my heart, Nicholas Stavrogin.
I shall kiss your footprints on the floor when you
have left.
STAVROGIN (with the same expression): I regret to
have to tell you, but I cannot love you, Shatov.
SHATOV: I know it. You cannot love anyone be-
Second Part 82
cause you are a man without roots and without
faith. [Only men who have roots in the soil can
love and believe and build. The others destroy.
And you destroy everything without intending
to, and you are even drawn to idiots like Verkho-
vensky who want to destroy for their own com-
fort, simply because it is easier to destroy than
not to destroy.] But I shall lead you back to your
former way. You will find peace and I shall cease
being alone with what you have taught me.
STAVROGIN: Thank you for your good intentions.
But until you have a chance to help me find the
hare, you could do me the more modest service I
came to ask of you.
SHATOV: And what is it?
STAVROGIN: If I happened to disappear in one way
or another, I should like you to take care of my
wife.
SHATOV: Your wife? Are you married?
STAVROGIN: Yes, to Maria Timofeyevna. [I know
that you have considerable influence over her.
You are the only one who can . . .]
SHATOV: SO it is true that you married her?
STAVROGIN: Four years ago in Petersburg.
SHATOV: Were you obliged to marry her?
STAVROGIN: Obliged? No.
SHATOV: Have you a child by her?
STAVROGIN: She has never had a child and couldn't
have one. Maria Timofeyevna is still a virgin. But
I ask you simply to take care of her.
(SHATOV, dazed, watches him leaving. Then he
runs after him.)
SHATOV: Ah! I understand. I know you. I know
83
Scene 6
you. You married her to punish yourself for a
dreadful crime, (STAVROGIN makes a gesture of
impatience.) Listen, listen, go and see Tihon.
STAVROGIN: Who is Tihon?
SHATOV: A former bishop who has retired here to
the Monastery of St. Euthymia. He will help
you.
STAVROGIN (staring at him): Who in this world
could help me? Not even you, Shatov. And I'll
never ask you anything again. Good night.
SCENE 7
A bridge at night, STAVROGIN is walking in another
direction under the rain, having opened his um-
brella, FEDKA pops up behind him.
FEDKA: Might I, sir, take advantage of your um-
brella?
(STAVROGIN stops. He and FEDKA face each other
under the umbrella.)
STAVROGIN: Who are you?
FEDKA: No one important. But you, you are Mr.
Stavrogin, a noble lord!
STAVROGIN: You are Fedka, the convict!
FEDKA: I am not a convict any more. I was sent
up for life, to be sure. But I found time dragging
and changed my status.
STAVROGIN: What are you doing here?
FEDKA: Nothing. I need a passport. In Russia it's
impossible to make a move without a passport.
Fortunately, a man you know, Peter Verkhoven-
sky, promised me one. Meanwhile, I was lying in
wait for you in the hope that Your Grace would
give me three rubles.
STAVROGIN: Who gave you the order to lie in wait
for me?
FEDKA: No one, no one! Although Peter Verkho-
vensky told me incidentally that perhaps with my
talents I could do a service for Your Grace, in
85 Scene 7
certain circumstances, by ridding you of people
who are in your way. As he told me also that you
?would go over this bridge to see a certain party
on the other side of the river, I have been waiting
for you the past three nights. You see that I de-
serve my three rubles.
STAVROGIN: Good. Listen. I like to be understood.
You will not receive a kopeck from me and I
neither have nor shall have need of you. If I ever
find you in my way again on this bridge or any-
where else, I'll bind you and hand you over to
the police.
FEDKA: Yes, but / need you.
STAVROGIN: Begone or I'll strike you.
FEDKA: Please take into consideration, sir, that I
am a poor defenseless orphan and that it is rain-
ing!
STAVROGIN: I give you my word of honor that if I
meet you again, I'll bind you up.
FEDKA: I'll wait for you anyhow. You never
know!
(He disappears, STAVROGIN stares in his direction
for a moment.)
BLACKOUT
SCENE 8
The Leby atklni dwelling, STAVROGIN is already in
the room, LEBYATKIN is relieving him of his um-
brella.
LEBYATKIN: What frightful weather! Oh, you are
all wet. {He pushes up an armchair.) I beg you,
I beg you. {He straightens up.) Ah, you are
looking at this room. You see, I live like a monk.
Abstinence, solitude, poverty, according to the
three vows of the knights of old.
STAVROGIN: Do you think the knights of old took
such vows?
LEBYATKIN: I don't know. I am perhaps confusing
things.
STAVROGIN: You are certainly confusing things. I
hope that you haven't been drinking.
LEBYATKIN: Hardly at all.
STAVROGIN: I asked you not to get drunk.
LEBYATKIN: Yes. Odd request!
STAVROGIN: Where is Maria Timofeyevna?
LEBYATKIN: In the next room.
STAVROGIN: Is she sleeping?
LEBYATKIN: Oh, no, she is telling her fortune. She
is expecting you. As soon as she heard the news,
she got all dressed up.
STAVROGIN: I shall see her in a moment. But first I
have something to settle with you!
87 Scene 8
LEBYATKIN: I hope so. So many things have piled
up in my heart. I should like to be able to talk
freely with you, as I used to do. Oh, you have
played such a great part in my life. And now I
am treated so cruelly.
STAVROGIN: I see, Captain, that you haven't
changed at all in the past four years. (He stares
at him silently.) [So they are right, those who
claim that the second half of a human life is de-
termined by the habits acquired during the first
half.
LEBYATKIN: Oh! What sublime words! Why, the
enigma of life is solved! And yet] I insist that I
am casting my skin like a serpent. Besides, I have
written my will.
STAVROGIN: That's odd. To bequeath what and to
whom?
LEBYATKIN: I want to leave my skeleton to the
medical students.
[STAVROGIN: And you hope for payment during
your lifetime?
LEBYATKIN: And why not? You see, I read the
biography of an American in the newspapers. He
bequeathed his huge fortune to scientific founda-
tions, his skeleton to the medical students of the
city, and his skin to be made into a drum on
which the American national anthem would be
beaten night and day. But, alas, we are merely
pygmies in comparison to the Americans and
their boldness of thought. If I tried to do the
same, I'd be accused of being a socialist and my
skin would be confiscated. Consequently, I had
to be satisfied with the students. I want to leave
Second Part 88
them my skeleton on condition that a label will be
stuck to my skull saying: "A repentant free-
thinker."]
STAVROGIN: So you know that you are in danger
of death.
LEBYATKIN (giving a start): No, not at all. What
do you mean? What a joke!
STAVROGIN: Didn't you write a letter to the gov-
ernor to denounce Verkhovensky's group, to
which you belong nevertheless?
LEBYATKIN: I don't belong to their group. I
agreed to hand out proclamations, but only to
do a service, as it were. I wrote the governor to
explain something of the sort to him. But if Ver-
khovensky really thinks . . . Oh, I must get to
St. Petersburg. That's why I was waiting for you.
Anyway, my dear benefactor, I need money to
go there.
STAVROGIN: You will have nothing from me. I
have already given you too much.
LEBYATKIN: That's true. But I accepted the shame
of it.
STAVROGIN: What shame is*there in the fact that
your sister is my legitimate wife?
LEBYATKIN: But the marriage is kept secret! It is
kept secret and there is a fatal mystery about it!
I receive money from you?ail right, that's nor-
mal. Then I am aske
d: "Why do you receive that
money?" I am bound by my word and cannot
answer, thus wronging my sister and the honor
of my family.
STAVROGIN: I have come to tell you that I am
going to make up for that outrage done to your
89 Scene 8
noble family. Tomorrow, probably, I shall an-
nounce our marriage officially. Hence the ques-
tion of the family dishonor will be settled. And
likewise, of course, the question of the allowance
that I shan't have to pay you.
LEBYATKIN (panic-stricken) ?. But it's not possible.
You can't make this marriage public. She is half
crazy.
STAVROGIN : I'll take care of that.
LEBYATKIN: What will your mother say? You will
have to take your wife into your house.
STAVROGIN: That doesn't concern you.
LEBYATKIN: But what shall / become? You are
casting me off like an old worn-out shoe.
STAVROGIN: Yes, like an old shoe. That's the cor-
rect expression. Now call Maria Timofeyevna,
(LEBYATKIN goes out and brings back MARIA
TIMOFEYEVNA, who stands in the middle of the
room.)
STAVROGIN (to LEBYATKIN): Leave now. No, not
that way. I'm afraid you would listen to us. I
mean outside.
LEBYATKIN: But it's raining.
STAVROGIN: Take my umbrella.
LEBYATKIN (bewildered): Your umbrella?really,
am I worthy of that honor?
STAVROGIN: Every man is worthy of an umbrella.
LEBYATKIN: Yes, yes, of course, that's a part of
the rights of man! (He goes out.)
MARIA: May I kiss your hand?
STAVROGIN: No. Not yet.
MARIA: All right. Sit down in the light so that I
can see you.
Second Part 90
(To reach the armchair, STAVROGIN walks toward
her. She crouches down with her arm raised as if
to protect herself, an expression of fright on her
face, STAVROGIN stops.)
STAVROGIN: I frightened you. Forgive me.
MARIA: Never mind. No, I was wrong.
(STAVROGIN sits down in the light, MARIA TIMO-
FEYEVNA screams.)
STAVROGIN (with a touch of impatience): What's
the matter?
MARIA: Nothing. Suddenly I didn't recognize you.
It seemed to me that you were someone else.
What are you holding in your hand?
STAVROGIN: What hand?
MARIA: Your right hand. It's a knife!
STAVROGIN: But look, my hand is empty.
MARIA: Yes. Last night I saw in a dream a man
who looked like my Prince, but it wasn't he. He
was coming toward me with a knife. Ah! (She
screams.) Are you the murderer from my dream
or my Prince?
STAVROGIN: You are not dreaming. Calm yourself.
MARIA: If you are my Prince, why don't you kiss
me? To be sure, he never kissed me. But he was
affectionate. I don't feel anything affectionate in
you. On the other hand, there's something stir-
ring in you that threatens me. He called me his
dove. He gave me a ring. He said: "Look at it
in the evening and I'll come to you in your
sleep."
STAVROGIN: Where is the ring?
MARIA: My brother drank it up. And now I am
alone at night. Every night . . . (She weeps.)
91 Scene 8
STAVROGIN:' Don't weep, Maria Timofeyevna.
From now on we shall live together.
(She stares at him fixedly.)
MARIA: Yes, your voice is soft now. And I recall.
I know why you are telling me we shall live to-
gether. The other day in the carriage you told
me that our marriage would be made public. But
I'm afraid of that too.
STAVROGIN: Why?
MARIA: I'll never know how to handle guests. I
don't suit you at all. I know, there are lackeys.
But I saw your family?all those ladies?at your
house. They are the ones I don't suit.
STAVROGIN: Did they do anything to hurt you?
MARIA: Hurt? Not at all. I was watching you all.
There you were, getting excited and bickering.
You don't even know how to laugh freely when
you are together. So much money and so little
joy! It's dreadful. No, I wasn't hurt. But I was
sad. It seemed to me that you were ashamed of
me. Yes, you were ashamed, and that morning
you began to be rrtore remote. Your very face
changed. My Prince went away, and I was left
with the man who scorned me, who perhaps
hated me. No more kind words?just impatience,
anger, the knife . . . (She gets up, trembling.)
STAVROGIN (suddenly beside himself): Enough!
You are mad, mad!
MARIA (in a meek little voice): Please, Prince, go
outside and come back in.
STAVROGIN (still trembling and impatiently):
Come back in? Why come back in?
MARIA: So that I'll know who you are. For those
Second Part 92
five years I was waiting for him to come, I con-
stantly imagined the way he would come in. Go
outside and come back in as if you had just re-