The Possessed Read online

arms.

  {He goes out. ALEXEY leaves by a door upstage.

  Second Part 66

  PETER VERKHOVENSKY looks around him, then

  goes over and ransacks the drawer of a secretary.

  He takes out some letters and reads them, STEP AN

  TROFIMOVICH enters, PETER hides the letters.)

  STEP AN: Alexey Yegor ovich told me you were

  here, son.

  PETER: Why, what are you doing in this house?

  I thought you had been driven out.

  STEP AN: I came to get the last of my things, and I

  am going to leave without hope of returning and

  without recriminations.

  PETER: Oh, you'll come back! A parasite is always

  a parasite.

  STEP AN: I don't like the way you talk to me.

  [PETER: You have always said that truth was par-

  amount. The truth is that you pretended to be in

  love with Varvara Petrovna and that she pre-

  tended not to see that you were in love with her.

  As a reward for such silliness, she was keeping

  you. Hence you are a parasite. I advised her yes-

  terday to put you in a suitable home.

  STEPAN: YOU spoke to her about me?

  PETER: Yes. She told me that tomorrow she would

  have a conversation with you to settle every-

  thing. The truth is that she wants to see you

  squirm once more. She showed me your letters.

  How I laughed�good Lord, how I laughed!

  STEPAN: YOU laughed. Have you no heart?] Do

  you know what a father is?

  PETER: You taught me what a father is. You never

  provided for me. I wasn't weaned yet when you

  shipped me off to Berlin by the post. Like a

  parcel.

  67 Scene 5

  STEP AN: Wretch! Although I sent you by the

  post, my heart continued to bleed!

  PETER: Mere words!

  STEPAN: Are you or aren't you my son, monster?

  PETER: You must know better than I. To be sure,

  fathers are inclined to have illusions about such

  things.

  STEPAN: Shut up!

  PETER: I will not. And don't whimper. You are a

  patriotic, sniveling, whimpering old woman. Be-

  sides, all Russia whimpers. Fortunately, we are

  going to change all that.

  STEPAN: Who is "we"?

  PETER: Why, we normal men. We are going to

  remake the world. We are the saviors.

  STEPAN: Is it possible that anyone like you aims to

  offer himself up to men in the place of Christ?

  But just look at yourself!

  PETER: Don't shout. We shall destroy everything.

  We'll not leave a stone standing, and then we'll

  begin all over again. Then there will be true

  equality. You preached equality, didn't you?

  Well, you shall have it! And I bet that you won't

  recognize it.

  STEPAN: I shall not recognize it if it looks like you.

  No, it was not of such things that we used to

  dream! I don't understand anything any more. I

  have given up understanding.

  PETER: All that comes from your sick old nerves.

  You made speeches. We act. What are you com-

  plaining about, scatterbrained old man?

  STEPAN: How can you be so insensitive?

  PETER: I followed your teachings. According to

  Second Part 68

  yon, the thing to do was to treat injustice harshly

  and to be sure of one's rights, to go ever forward

  toward the future! Well, that's where we're go-

  ing, and we shall strike hard. A tooth for a tooth,

  as in the Gospels!

  STEPAN: You poor fellow, it's not in the Gospels!

  PETER: The devil take it! I have never read that

  confounded book. Nor any other book. What's

  the use? What matters is progress.

  STEPAN: No, you're crazy! Shakespeare and Hugo

  don't stand in the way of progress. Quite the

  contrary, i assure you!

  PETER: Don't get excited! Hugo is an old pair of

  buttocks. As for Shakespeare, our peasants work-

  ing in the fields don't need him. They need shoes

  instead. They will be given them as soon as

  everything is destroyed.

  STEPAN (trying to be ironic): And when will this

  be?

  PETER: In May. In June everyone will be making

  shoes, (STEPAN TROFIMOVICH falls into a chair,

  crushed.) Rejoice, ancestor,�for your ideas are

  going to be put into practice.

  STEPAN: They are not my ideas. You want to

  destroy everything; you don't want to leave a

  single stone standing. But / wanted people to love

  one another.

  PETER: No need for love! Science will take its

  place.

  STEPAN: But that will be boring.

  PETER: Why should it be boring? That's an aris-

  tocratic idea. When men are equal, they are not

  6g Scene 5

  bored. "They don't have a good time either.

  Nothing matters and everything is on the same

  plane. When we have justice plus science, then

  both love and boredom will be done away with.

  People will forget.

  STEPAN: NO man will ever be willing to forget his

  love.

  PETER: Again you're indulging in words. Just re-

  member, ancestor, that you forgot; you got mar-

  ried three times.

  STEPAN: Twice. And after a long interval.

  PETER: Long or short, people forget. Conse-

  quently, the sooner they forget, the better. Oh,

  but you get on my nerves, never knowing what

  you want! / know what I want. Half the heads

  will have to be cut off. Those that remain will be

  taught to drink.

  STEPAN: It is easier to cut off heads than to have

  ideas.

  PETER: What ideas? Ideas are nonsense. Nonsense

  has to be suppressed to achieve justice. Nonsense

  was good enough for oldsters like you. A man

  has to choose. If you believe in God, you are

  forced to say nonsense. If you don't believe in

  him and yet refuse to admit that everything must

  be razed, you will still talk nonsense. You're all

  in the same boat, and consequently you can't

  keep yourselves from talking nonsense. / say that

  men must act. I'll destroy everything and others

  will construct. No more reform and no more im-

  provement. The more things are improved and re-

  formed, the worse it is. The sooner people begin

  Second Part 70

  to destroy, the better it is. Let's begin by destroy-

  ing. What happens afterward doesn't concern us.

  The rest is nonsense, nonsense!

  STEP AN (rushing out of the TOOTH, terrified): He's

  mad, he's mad. . . .

  (PETER VERKHOVENSKY laughs uproariously.)

  BLACKOUT

  THE NARRATOR: Well, so much for that! I have

  forgotten to tell you two facts. The first is that

  the Lebyatkins had mysteriously moved while

  Stavrogin was bedridd
en and had settled in a

  little house in the suburbs. The second is that a

  convicted murderer had escaped and was prowl-

  ing among us. As a result, rich people did not go

  out at night.

  The street at night, STAVROGIN is walking in the

  dark, unaware that FEDKA is following him.

  SCENE 6

  The common room of the Filipov rooming house In

  Epiphany Street, KIRILOV is on all fours to retrieve a

  a ball that has rolled under a piece of furniture.

  While he is in that position, STAVROGIN opens the

  door, KIRILOV, with the ball in his hand, gets up as

  he sees him come in.

  STAVROGIN: You are playing ball?

  KIRILOV: I bought it in Hamburg to throw it up

  and catch it; nothing strengthens the back like

  that. Besides, I play with the landlady's boy.

  STAVROGIN: Do you like children?

  KIRILOV: Yes.

  STAVROGIN: Why?

  KIRILOV: I like life. You want tea?

  STAVROGIN: Yes.

  KIRILOV: Sit down. What do you want of me?

  STAVROGIN: A service. Read this letter. It is a chal-

  lenge from the son of Gaganov, whose ear I bit

  some time back, (KIRILOV reads it and then places

  it on the table and looks at STAVROGIN.) [Yes, he

  has already written me several times to insult me.

  In the beginning I answered to assure him that

  if he was still suffering from the insult I had done

  his father, I was ready to offer him every apol-

  ogy. I insisted that my deed had not been pre-

  meditated and that I was ill at the time. Instead

  Second Part

  72

  of calming him, this seemed to irritate him even

  more, if I can believe what he said about me.

  Today I am handed this letter.] Have you read

  what he says at the end?

  KIRILOV: Yes, he speaks of a "face I'd like to

  smack."

  STAVROGIN: That's it. Hence I have to fight him,

  although I don't want to. I have come to ask you

  to be my second.

  KIRILOV: I'll go. What should I say?

  STAVROGIN: Begin by repeating my apologies for

  the offense done to his father. Tell him that I am

  ready to forget his insults if only he will cease

  writing me this kind of letter, especially with

  such vulgar expressions.

  KIRILOV: He won't accept. It's clear that he wants

  to fight you and kill you.

  STAVROGIN: I know it.

  KIRILOV: Good. Tell me your conditions for the

  duel.

  STAVROGIN: I want everything to be over tomor-

  row. Go and see him tomorrow morning at nine

  o'clock. We can be on the field at about two.

  [The weapon will be the pistol. The barriers

  will be ten yards apart. Each of us shall take his

  stand ten paces from his barrier. At the signal we

  shall walk toward each other. Each may shoot as

  he walks. We shall shoot three times. That's all.

  KIRILOV: Ten yards between the barriers isn't

  much.

  STAVROGIN: Twelve, if you prefer. But no more.]

  Have you pistols?

  KIRILOV: Yes. You want to see them?

  73 Scene 6

  STAVROGIN :" Certainly.

  (KIRILOV kneels doivn in front of a traveling bag

  and takes out a pistol case, which he places on the

  table in front of STAVROGIN.)

  KIRILOV: I also have a revolver I bought in Amer-

  ica. (He shows it to him.)

  STAVROGIN: YOU have many guns. And very hand-

  some ones.

  KIRILOV: They are my sole wealth.

  (STAVROGIN looks at him fixedly, then closes the

  pistol case without ceasing to look at him.)

  STAVROGIN (with a slight hesitation): Are you still

  firm in your intention?

  KIRILOV (immediately and with a most natural man-

  ner) : Yes.

  STAVROGIN: I mean in regard to suicide.

  KIRILOV: I understood what you meant. Yes, I

  have the same intentions.

  STAVROGIN: Ah! And when will it be?

  KIRILOV: Soon.

  STAVROGIN: You seem very happy.

  KIRILOV: I am.

  STAVROGIN: I understand that. I have sometimes

  thought of it. just imagine that you have com-

  mitted a crime, or, rather, a particularly cow-

  ardly, shameful deed. Well, a bullet in the head

  and everything ceases to exist! What does shame

  matter then!

  KIRILOV: That's not why I am happy.

  STAVROGIN: Why, then?

  KIRILOV: Have you ever looked at the leaf of a

  tree?

  STAVROGIN: Yes.

  Second Part 74

  KIRILOV: Green and shiny, with ail its veins visible

  in the sunlight? Isn't it wonderful? Yes, a leaf jus-

  tifies everything. Human beings, birth and death

  �everything one does is good.

  STAVROGIN: And even if . . . (He stops.)

  KIRILOV: Well?

  STAVROGIN: If a man harms one of those children

  you love ... a little girl, for instance ... If

  he dishonors her, is that good too?

  KIRILOV (staring at him in silence): Did you do

  that? (STAVROGIN shakes his head oddly in si-

  lence.) If a man commits such a crime, that is

  good too. And if someone splits open the head

  of a man who dishonored a child or if, on the

  other hand, he is forgiven, all that is good. When

  we know that once and for all, then we are happy.

  STAVROGIN: When did you discover that you were

  happy?

  KIRILOV: Last Wednesday. During the night. At

  two thirty-five.

  (STAVROGIN rises suddenly.)

  STAVROGIN: Was it you whojighted the lamp in

  front of the icon?

  KIRILOV: It was I.

  [STAVROGIN: DO you pray?

  KIRILOV: Constantly. Do you see that spider? I

  watch her and am grateful to her for climbing.

  That's my way of praying.

  STAVROGIN: DO you believe in a future life?

  KIRILOV: Not in eternal life in the future. But in

  eternal life here below.

  STAVROGIN: Here below?

  KIRILOV: Yes. At certain moments. Such a joy that

  75 Scene 6

  one would die if it lasted more than five seconds.]

  (STAVROGIN looks at him with a sort of con-

  tempt.)

  STAVROGIN: And you claim not to believe in God!

  KIRILOV {quite simply): Stavrogin, I beg you not

  to use irony in talking to me. Just remember what

  you were for me, the part you played in my life.

  STAVROGIN: It's late. Be on time tomorrow morn-

  ing at Gaganov's. Remember . . . nine o'clock.

  KIRILOV: I am punctual. I can wake up when I

  want to. When I go to bed I tell myself "Seven

  o'clock," and I awake at seven o'clock.

  STAVROGIN: That is a very valuable trait.

  KIRILOV: Yes.

  STAVROGIN: Go and sleep. But first tell Shatov that

  I want to se
e him.

  KIRILOV: Just a minute. (He takes a stick from the

  comer and knocks on the side wall.) There, he'll

  come now. But what about you; won't you

  sleep? You are dueling tomorrow.

  STAVROGIN: Even when I am tired, my hand never

  trembles.

  KIRILOV: That's a valuable trait. Good night.

  (SHATOV appears in the doorway upstage, KIRILOV

  smiles at him and leaves by the side door, SHATOV

  stares at STAVROGIN and then enters slowly.)

  SHATOV: HOW you worried me! Why were you

  so slow in coming?

  STAVROGIN: Were you so sure that I would come?

  SHATOV: I couldn't imagine that you would for-

  sake me. I can't get along without you. Just re-

  member the part you played in my life.

  STAVROGIN: Then why did you strike me? (SHA-

  Second Part 76

  xov says nothing.) Was it because of my affair

  with your wife?

  SHATOV: No.

  STAVROGIN: Because of the rumor that started

  about your sister and me?

  SHATOV: I don't think so.

  STAVROGIN: Good. It hardly matters anyway. As I

  don't know where I'll be tomorrow evening, I

  came merely to give you a warning and to ask

  you a service. Here is the warning: you may be

  murdered.

  SHATOV: Murdered?

  STAVROGIN: By Peter Verkhovensky's group.

  [SHATOV: I knew it. But how did you find it out?

  STAVROGIN: I belong to their group. Like you.

  SHATOV: You, Stavrogin, are a member of their

  society? You joined up with those vain and idi-

  otic flunkies? How could you? Is that worthy of

  Nicholas Stavrogin?

  STAVROGIN: Forgive me, but you ought to get out

  of the habit of looking upon me as the Tsar of all

  the Russias and yourself as just a speck of dust.

  SHATOV: Oh, don't talk to me that way! You

  know very well that they are knaves and flunkies

  and that you don't belong among them!

  STAVROGIN: Indubitably they are knaves. But what

  does that matter? To tell the truth, I don't belong

  altogether to their society. Whenever I helped

  them in the past, I did so as a dabbler and because

  I had nothing better to do.

  SHATOV: Is it possible to do such things as a dab-

  bler?

  STAVKQGIN: People sometimes get married as dab-

  77 Scene 6

  biers, or have children and commit crimes as dab-

  blers! But, speaking of crimes, you are the one

  running the risk of being killed. Not I. At least

  not by them.]

  SHATOV: They have nothing against me. I joined

  their organization. But my ideas changed when I

  was in America. I told them so when I got back.

  I was very fair in telling them that we disagreed

  on all points. That's my privilege, the right of

  my conscience. I will not accept�

  STAVROGIN: Don't shout, (KIRILOV comes in, picks

  up the pistol case, and leaves.) Verkhovensky

  won't hesitate to liquidate you if he gets the idea

  that you might compromise their organization.

  SHATOV: They make me laugh. Their organization

  doesn't even exist.

  STAVROGIN: I suppose in fact that it's all a figment

  of Verkhovensky's brain. [The others think he is

  a delegate of an international organization and so

  they follow him. But he has the talent to make

  them accept his myth. That's the way you form

  a group. And then someday, starting from the

  first group, he may succeed in creating the inter-

  national organization.]

  SHATOV: That insect, that poor fool, that idiot

  who doesn't know anything about Russia!

  STAVROGIN: It is true that such people don't know

  anything about Russia. But, after all, they know

  only a little less about it than we do. Besides, even

  an idiot can shoot a revolver. Which is why I

  came to warn you.

  SHATOV: Thank you. And I thank you particularly

  for doing so after I struck you.

  Second Part 78

  STAVROGIN: Not at all. I return good for evil. (He

  laughs.) Don't worry, I am a Christian. Or,

  rather, I should be if I believed in God. But . . .

  (He gets up.) . . . there is no hare.

  SHATOV: No hare?

  STAVROGIN: Yes, to make jugged hare, you need a

  hare. To believe in God, you need a God. (He

  laughs again, but icily this time.)

  SHATOV (greatly excited): Don't blaspheme like

  that! Don't laugh! And get rid of that pose; take

  on a normal human manner. Speak simply and

  humanly, if only for once in your life! And re-

  member what you used to say before I left for

  America.

  STAVROGIN: I don't remember.

  SHATOV: I'll tell you. It's high time for someone to

  tell you the truth about yourself, to strike you if

  need be and remind you of what you are. Do

  you recall the time when you used to tell me

  that the Russian people alone would save the

  universe in the name of a new God? Do you re-

  member your words: "A Russian atheist is an

  impossibility"? You didn't say then that the hare