SHATOV: What a great joy! MARIA: What shall I name him?
SHATOV. Shatov. He is my son. Let me fix your pillows.
MARIA: Not like that! How awkward you are! (He does his best.)
MARIA (without looking at him): Lean over me! (He leans totoard her.) Closer! Closer! (She slips her arm around his neck and kisses him.)
SHATOV: Maria! My love! (She rolls on her side.)
MARIA: Ah! Nicholas Stavrogin is a wretch. (She bursts into sobs. He caresses her and talks to her softly.)
SHATOV: Maria. It’s over now. The three of us will live together calmly, and we shall work.
MARIA (reaching out and grasping him in her arms): Yes, we shall work, we shall forget everything, my love. . . .
(There is a knock at the door of the living room.)
MARIA: What’s that?
SHATOV: I had forgotten it. Maria, I must leave you. I’ll be gone a half hour.
MARIA: You are going to leave me alone? We have just found each other after all these years and you are leaving me. . . .
SHATOV: But this is the last time. After this we shall be together forever. Never, never again shall we think of the horror of the past.
(He kisses her, takes up his cap, and gently closes the door. In the living room LYAMSHIN is waiting for him.)
SHATOV: Lyamshin, have you ever been happy in your life?
(BLACKOUT. Then LYAMSHIN and SHATOV step around the curtain representing the street, LYAMSHIN stops and hesitates.)
SHATOV: Well! What are you waiting for? (They continue walking.)
BLACKOUT
SCENE 19
The Forest of Brykovo. SHIGALOV and VIRGINSKY are already there when PETER VERKHOVENSKY arrives with THE SEMINARIAN and LIPUTIN. PETER (lifts his lantern and looks at them all in the face): I hope you haven’t forgotten what was agreed.
VIRGINSKY: Listen. I know that Shatov’s wife came back to him last night and that she gave birth to a child. Anyone who knows human nature knows that he will not denounce us now. He is happy. Perhaps we could postpone this for the present.
PETER: If you suddenly became happy, would you postpone accomplishing an act of justice that you considered just and necessary?
VIRGINSKY: Certainly not. Certainly not. But . . . PETER: You would prefer to be unhappy rather than to be cowardly?
VIRGINSKY: Certainly … I should prefer it. PETER: Well, let me point out to you that Shatov now considers this denunciation just and necessary. Besides, what happiness could there possibly be in the fact that his wife, after an escapade of three years, has returned to him to give birth to a child by Stavrogin?
VIRGINSKY (interrupting): Yes, but I protest.
We’ll ask him to give his word of honor. That’s all.
PETER: You can’t talk of honor unless you’re in the pay of the government.
LIPUTIN: How dare you? Which of us here is in the pay of the government?
PETER: You, perhaps. . . . Traitors are always afraid at the moment of danger.
SHIGALOV: Enough. I must speak up. Since last night I have scrupulously examined the question of this assassination and have reached the conclusion that it was useless, frivolous, and petty. You hate Shatov because he despises you and he insuited you all. That is a personal question. But personal questions lead to despotism. Hence I am leaving you. Not out of fear of danger nor out of friendship for Shatov, but because this assassination contradicts my system. Farewell. As for denouncing you, you know that I won’t do it.
(He wheels about and goes away.)
PETER: Stay here! . . . We’ll catch up with that madman. Meanwhile, I must tell you that Shatov already told Kiriiov of his intention of denouncing us. It was Kiriiov who told me, because he was shocked by it. Now you know everything. And, furthermore, you have taken an oath.
(They look at one another.) Good. Let me remind you that we are to throw him into the pond afterward and then scatter. Kirilov’s letter will cover all of us. Tomorrow I am leaving for St. Petersburg. You will have news from me soon. (A shrill whistle. After a hesitation LIPUTIN answers it.) Let’s hide.
(They all hide except LIPUTIN. LYAMSHIN and SHATOV come on stage.)
SHATOV: Well! You are silent? Where Is your pickax? Don’t be afraid. There’s not a soul here. You could shoot a cannon off here and no one would hear a thing in the suburb. Here it is. (He strikes the ground ivith his foot.) Right here. (THE SEMINARIAN and LIPUTIN leap on him from the rear, seize his arms, and pin him to the ground. PETER VERKHOVENSKY puts his revolver to SHATOV’S forehead, SHATOV utters a brief desperate cry: «Maria!» VERKHOVENSKY shoots, VIRGINSKY, ivho has not taken part in the murder, suddenly begins to tremble and to scream.)
VIRGINSKY: That’s not the way. No, no. That’s not the way at all. . . . No . . . (LYAMSHIN, ivho has stood behind him all the time without taking part in the murder either, suddenly grabs him from behind and begins screaming, VIRGINSKY, in fright, tears himself away, LYAMSHIN throws himself on PETER VERKHOVENSKY, screaming likewise. He is seized and silenced, VIRGINSKY weeps.) No, no, that’s not the way. . . .
PETER (looking at them with scorn): Filthy cowards!
BLACKOUT
SCENE 20
The street, VERKHOVENSKY, hastening toward the Filipov rooming house, encounters FEDKA. PETER: Why the hell didn’t you stay hidden, as I had ordered you to?
FEDKA: Don’t talk that way to me, you little sneak. I didn’t want to compromise Mr. Kirilov, who is an educated man.
PETER: DO you or don’t you want a passport and money to go to Petersburg?
FEDKA: You are a louse. That’s what I think you are. You promised me money in the name of Mr. Stavrogin to shed innocent blood. I know now that Mr. Stavrogin was not informed. So that the real murderer is neither me nor Mr. Stavrogin: it’s you.
PETER (beside himself): You wretch, I’ll hand you over to the police at once! (He takes out his revolver. Quicker than he, FEDKA strikes him four times on the head, PETER jails, FEDKA runs away with a burst of laughter, PETER picks himself up.) I’ll find you at the other end of the world. I’ll crush you. As for Kirilov . . . ! (He runs toward the Filipov rooming house.)
BLACKOUT
SCENE 21
The Filipov rooming house.
KIRILOV (in complete blackness): You killed Shatov! You killed him! You killed him! (The lights come up gradually.)
PETER: I have explained it a hundred times. Shatov was on the point of denouncing us all.
KIRILOV: Shut up. You killed him because he spat in your face in Geneva.
PETER: For that. And for many other things too. What’s the matter with you? Oh . . .
(KIRILOV has taken out a revolver and is aiming at him. PETER VERKHOVENSKY takes out his revolver too.)
KIRILOV: You had got your weapon ready in advance because you were afraid I would kill you. But I’ll not kill. Although . . . although . . .
(He continues taking aim. Then he lowers his arm, laughing.)
PETER: I knew you wouldn’t shoot. But you took a big risk. / was going to shoot. . . .
(He sits down again and pours himself some tea with a trembling hand, KIRILOV lays his revolver on the table, starts walking up and down, and stops in front of PETER VERKHOVENSKY.)
KIRILOV: I’m sorry about Shatov. PETER: SO am I.
KIRILOV: Shut up, you wretch, or I’ll kill you.
PETER: All right. I don’t regret him. . . . Besides, there’s not much time. I must take a train at dawn and cross the frontier.
KIRILOV: I understand. You are leaving your crimes behind and taking shelter yourself. Filthy swine!
PETER: Filth and decency are just words. Everything is just words.
KIRILOV: All my life I wanted there to be something other than words. That’s what I lived for, so that words would have a meaning, so that they would be deeds also. . . .
PETER: And so?
KIRILOV: So . . . (He looks at PETER VERKHOVENSKY.) Oh, you’re the last man I shall ever see. I don’t want us to separate in hatred.
PETER: I assure you that I have nothing against you personally.
KIRILOV: We are both miserable wretches, and I am going to kill myself and you will go on living. PETER: Of course I shall go on living, lama coward. It’s despicable, I know.
KIRILOV (with increasing excitement): Yes, yes, it’s despicable. Listen. Do you remember what Christ Crucified said to the thief who was dying on his right hand? «Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.» The day ended, they died, and there was neither Paradise nor Resurrection. And yet he was the greatest man on earth. Without that man the whole planet and everything on it is simply meaningless. Well, if the laws of nature did not even spare such a man, if they forced him to live in lies and to die for a lie, then this whole planet is but a lie. What is the good of living, then? Answer, if you are a man.
PETER: Yes, what is the good of living! I have understood your point of view completely. If God is a lie, then we are alone and free. You kill yourself and prove that you are free and there is no God. But for that you must kill yourself.
KIRILOV (more and more excited): You have understood. Ah! Everyone will understand if even a low scoundrel like you can understand. But someone has to begin and kill himself to prove to others the terrible freedom of man. I am unfortunate because I am the first and because I am dreadfully frightened. I am Tsar only
