(The opponents walk toward each other, GAGANOV shoots, stands still for a moment, and, seeing that he missed STAVROGIN, goes and takes his place at his barrier, STAVROGIN walks toward him and shoots above GAGANOV. Then he takes out a pocket handkerchief and wraps it around his little finger.)
KIRILOV: Are you wounded? STAVROGIN: The bullet scraped me.
KIRILOV: If your opponent does not declare himself satisfied, your duel must continue.
GAGANOV: I declare that that man shot intentionally in the air. It’s one more insult.
STAVROGIN: I give you my word of honor that I have no intention of insulting you. I shot in the air for reasons that concern no one but me. MAURICE: It seems to me, however, that if one of the opponents declares in advance that he will shoot in the air, the duel cannot go on. STAVROGIN: I never said that I would shoot in the air each time. You don’t know how I shall shoot the second time.
GAGANOV: I repeat that he did it on purpose. But I want to shoot a second time, according to my right.
KIRILOV (wryly): It is in fact your right.
MAURICE: Since that is the way it is, the duel goes on.
(They start in the same way. GAGANOV reaches the barrier and takes aim for a long time at STAVROGIN, who stands waiting with his arms at his sides, GAGANOV’S hand trembles.)
KIRILOV: You are aiming too long. Shoot. Shoot quickly.
(GAGANOV shoots, STAVROGIN’S hat flies off. KIRILOV picks it up and gives it to STAVROGIN. Together they examine the hat.)
MAURICE: Your turn to shoot. Don’t keep your opponent waiting.
(STAVROGIN looks at GAGANOV and shoots his pistol upward, GAGANOV, mad with rage, runs offstage. MAURICE NICOLAEVICH follows him.)
KIRILOV: Why didn’t you kill him? You have insulted him even more seriously.
STAVROGIN: What should I have done?
KIRILOV: Either not provoke him to a duel or else kill him.
STAVROGIN: I didn’t want to kill him. But if I had not provoked him, he would have slapped me in public.
KIRILOV : Well, then, you would have been slapped! STAVROGIN: I’m beginning to feel as if I didn’t understand. Why does everybody expect of me what no one expects of anyone else? Why must I endure what no one endures and accept burdens that no one could carry?
KIRILOV: You go out of your way to seek those burdens, Stavrogin.
STAVROGIN: Ah! (A pause.) You noticed that? KIRILOV: Yes.
STAVROGIN: Is It as obvious as that? KIRILOV: Yes, (Silence, STAVROGIN puts on his hat and arranges it carefully. He resumes his distant manner, then looks at KIRILOV.)
STAVROGIN (slowly ): One tires of burdens, Kirilov. It is not my fault that that idiot missed me.
BLACKOUT
SCENE 11
At Varvara StavrognCs. STAVROGIN, in the center, is asleep bolt upright on the sofa, with a bandage on his finger. He scarcely seems to be breathing. His face is pale and severe, as if petrified, and he is frowning.
DASHA conies in and rushes to him, stops, and stares at him. She makes the sign of the cross over him. He opens his eyes and remains motionless, staring fixedly at the same point in front of him. DASHA:Are you wounded?
STAVROGIN (looking at her):No. DASHA:Did you draw blood?
STAVROGIN: No, I killed no one and, above all, no one killed me, as you see. The duel took place quite stupidly. I shot in the air and Gaganov missed me. I have no luck. But I am tired and should like to be alone.
DASHA: All right. I shall stop seeing you, since you constantly run away from me. I know that at the end I’ll find you.
STAVROGIN: At the end?
DASHA: Yes. When all is over, call me and I’ll come.
(He looks at her and seems to ivake up completely.)
STAVROGIN (in a natural manner) I am so vile and cowardly, Dasha, that I believe I shall actually call you at the very end. And you, despite all your prudence, will come running in fact. But, tell me, “will you come, whatever the end is? (DASHA is silent.) Even if in the meantime I have committed the worst of crimes?
DASHA (looking at him): Are you going to bring about your wife’s death?
STAVROGIN: No. No. Neither hers nor anyone’s. I don’t want to. Perhaps I shall bring about the death of the other one, the girl. . . . Perhaps I shall not be able to keep myself from doing so. Oh, leave me, Dasha. Why destroy yourself by following me? (He gets up.)
DASHA: I know that at the end I’ll be alone with you, and I’m waiting for that moment. I pray for it.
STAVROGIN: So you pray?
DASHA: Yes. Ever since a certain day, I haven’t ceased praying.
STAVROGIN: And suppose I don’t call you? Suppose I take flight. . . .
DASHA: That can’t be. You will tall me. STAVROGIN: There is great contempt in what you are saying.
DASHA: There is not only contempt.
STAVROGIN (laughing): So there is contempt. That doesn’t matter. I don’t want to cause your ruin. DASHA: You won’t cause my ruin. If I don’t come with you, I shall become a nun and take care of the sick.
STAVROGIN: A nurse! That’s it. That’s it. You are interested in me just as a nurse would be. After all, that’s probably what I need the most. DASHA:Yes, you are ill.
(STAVROGIN suddenly takes a chair and flings it without apparent effort across the room, DASHA screams, STAVROGIN turns his back on her and goes and sits down. Then he talks quite naturally, as if nothing had happened.)
STAVROGIN: You see, Dasha, I constantly have visions now. They’re a kind of little demon. There is one, above all. . . .
DASHA: You already told me about him. You are ill.
STAVROGIN: Last night he sat down very close to me and didn’t leave me. He is stupid and insolent. And secondrate. Yes, secondrate. I am furious that my personal demon should be secondrate. DASHA: You talk about him as if he really existed. Oh, may God save you from that!
STAVROGIN: No, no, I don’t believe in the devil. Yet last night the demons came out of every swamp and swooped down upon me. Why, a little devil on the bridge offered to cut the throats of Lebyatkin and his sister, Maria Timofeyevna, to get rid of my marriage. He asked for a down payment of three rubles, but he calculated the cost of the operation at fifteen hundred rubles. He was a bookkeeper devil.
DASHA: Are you sure he was a vision? STAVROGIN: No, he was not a vision. It was Fedka, the escaped convict.
DASHA: What did you reply?
STAVROGIN: Why, nothing at all. To get rid of him, I gave him the three rubles and even more. (DASHA exclaims.) Yes. He must think I am in agreement. But don’t let your kind heart worry. For him to act, 1 shall have to give him the order. Perhaps, after all, I shall give it!
DASHA (clasping her hands): Good Lord, good Lord, why do you torment me like this? STAVROGIN: Forgive me. It was only a joke. Besides, I’ve been like this since last night—I have a terrible impulse to laugh, to laugh without stopping, endlessly. . . . (He gives a forced, hollow laugh, DASHA stretches out her hand toward him.) I hear a carriage. It must be my mother.
DASHA: May God preserve you from your demons. Call me. I shall come.
STAVROGIN: Listen, Dasha. If I were to go and see Fedka and give him the order, would you come, would you come even after the crime?
DASHA (in tears): Oh, Nicholas, Nicholas, I beg you, don’t stay alone like this. . . . Go and see Tihon at the seminary; he will help you. STAVROGIN: YOU too!
DASHA: Yes, Tihon. And afterward I shall come. … I shall come. . . . (She flees, weeping.)
STAVROGIN: Of course she’ll come. With delight. (With disgust) Ah! …
[ALEXEY YEGOROVICH (coming in): *Maurice Nicolaevich wishes to see you.
*The scene between Maurice Nicolaevich and Stavrogin was cut in production.
STAVROGIN:” He? What can’ he . . . (He has asnmg smile.) I’ll see him.
(MAURICE NICOLAEVICH enters and ALEXEY YEGOROVICH leaves, MAURICE NICOLAEVICH sees STAVROGIN’S smile and stops, as if he were about to ivheel around and leave. But STAVROGIN’S expression changes, and, with a look of sincere surprise, he holds out his hand, which MAURICE NICOLAEVICH does not shake, STAVROGIN smiles again, but courteously this time.)
STAVROGIN: Sit down.
(MAURICE NICOLAEVICH sits on a chair and STAVROGIN at an angle on the sofa. For a minute STAVROGIN looks silently at his visitor, who seems to hesitate and then suddenly speaks.)
MAURICE: If you can, marry Lisa Nicolayevna. (STAVROGIN stares at him without any change of expression, MAURICE NICOLAEVICH stares back.) STAVROGIN (after a pause): If I am not wrong, Lisa Nicolayevna is your fiancee.
MAURICE: Yes, we are officially engaged. STAVROGIN: Have you had a quarrel?
MAURICE: No. She loves and esteems me, in her own words. And her words are the most precious thing in the world to me.
STAVROGIN: I can understand that.
MAURICE: I know that if you were to call her, though she stood at the altar in her wedding veil, she would forsake me and everyone else to follow you.
STAVROGIN: Are you sure of that?
MAURICE: Yes, she says she hates you, and she is sincere. But in reality she loves you insanely. And although she says she loves me, there are moments when she hates me cordially.
STAVROGIN: Yet I am surprised that you can dispose of Lisa Nicolayevna. Did she authorize you to do so?
MAUSICE: You have just made a vulgar remark, a remark full of vengeance and scorn. But I’m
