The Lower Depths

PEPEL. Kleshtch – wasn’t it? What’s wrong with him? He was running like one possessed!

LUKA. You’d do the same if your own heart were breaking!

PEPEL [sitting down] I don’t like him.. he’s got such a nasty, bad temper – and so proud! [Imitating Kleshtch] “I’m a workman!” And he thinks everyone’s beneath him. Go on working if you feel like it – nothing to be so damned haughty about! If work is the standard – a horse can give us points – pulls like hell and says nothing! Natasha – are your folks at home?

NATASHA. They went to the cemetery – then to night service.

PEPEL. So that’s why you’re free for once – quite a novelty!

LUKA [to Bubnoff, thoughtfully] There – you say – truth! Truth doesn’t always heal a wounded soul. For instance, I knew of a man who believed in a land of righteousness.

BUBNOFF. In what?

LUKA. In a land of righteousness. He said: “Somewhere on this earth there must be a righteous land – and wonderful people live there – good people! They respect each other, help each other, and everything is peaceful and good!” And so that man – who was always searching for this land of righteousness – he was poor and lived miserably – and when things got to be so bad with him that it seemed there was nothing else for him to do except lie down and die – even then he never lost heart – but he’d just smile and say: “Never mind! I can stand it! A little while longer – and I’ll have done with this life – and I’ll go in search of the righteous land!” – it was his one happiness – the thought of that land.

PEPEL. Well? Did he go there?

BUBNOFF. Where? Ho-ho!

LUKA. And then to this place – in Siberia, by the way – there came a convict – a learned man with books and maps – yes, a learned man who knew all sorts of things – and the other man said to him: “Do me a favor – show me where is the land of righteousness and how I can get there.” At once the learned man opened his books, spread out his maps, and looked and looked and he said – no – he couldn’t find this land anywhere.. everything was correct – all the lands on earth were marked – but not this land of righteousness.

PEPEL [in a low voice] Well? Wasn’t there a trace of it?

[Bubnoff roars with laughter.]

NATASHA. Wait.. well, little father?

LUKA. The man wouldn’t believe it… “It must exist,” he said, “look carefully. Otherwise,” he says, “your books and maps are of no use if there’s no land of righteousness.” The learned man was offended. “My plans,” he said, “are correct. But there exists no land of righteousness anywhere.” Well, then the other man got angry. He’d lived and lived and suffered and suffered, and had believed all the time in the existence of this land – and now, according to the plans, it didn’t exist at all. He felt robbed! And he said to the learned man: “Ah – you scum of the earth! You’re not a learned man at all – but just a damned cheat!” – and he gave him a good wallop in the eye – then another one.. [After a moment’s silence] And then he went home and hanged himself!

[All are silent. Luka, smiling, looks at Pepel and Natasha.]

PEPEL [low-voiced] To hell with this story – it isn’t very cheerful.

NATASHA. He couldn’t stand the disappointment.

BUBNOFF [sullen] Ah – it’s nothing but a fairy-tale.

PEPEL. Well – there is the righteous land for you – doesn’t exist, it seems.

NATASHA. I’m sorry for that man.

BUBNOFF. All a story – ho-ho! – land of righteousness – what an idea! [Exit through window]

LUKA [pointing to window] He’s laughing! [Pause] Well, children, God be with you! I’ll leave you soon.

PEPEL. Where are you going to?

LUKA. To the Ukraine – I heard they discovered a new religion there – I want to see – yes! People are always seeking – they always want something better – God grant them patience!

PEPEL. You think they’ll find it?

LUKA. The people? They will find it! He who seeks, will find! He who desires strongly, will find!

NATASHA. If only they could find something better – invent something better.

LUKA. They’re trying to! But we must help them girl – we must respect them.

NATASHA. How can I help them? I am helpless myself!

PEPEL [determined] Again – listen – I’ll speak to you again, Natasha – here – before him – he knows everything.. run away with me?

NATASHA. Where? From one prison to another?

PEPEL. I told you – I’m through with being a thief, so help me God! I’ll quit! If I say so, I’ll do it! I can read and write – I’ll work – He’s been telling me to go to Siberia on my own hook – let’s go there together, what do you say? Do you think I’m not disgusted with my life? Oh – Natasha – I know.. I see.. I console myself with the thought that there are lots of people who are honored and respected – and who are bigger thieves than I! But what good is that to me? It isn’t that I repent.. I’ve no conscience.. but I do feel one thing: One must live differently. One must live a better life.. one must be able to respect one’s own self.

LUKA. That’s right, friend! May God help you! It’s true! A man must respect himself!

PEPEL. I’ve been a thief from childhood on. Everybody always called me “Vaska – the thief – the son of a thief!” Oh – very well then – I am a thief – .. just imagine – now, perhaps, I’m a thief out of spite – perhaps I’m a thief because no one ever called me anything different… Well, Natasha – ?

NATASHA [sadly] Somehow I don’t believe in words – and I’m restless to-day – my heart is heavy.. as if I were expecting something.. it’s a pity, Vassily, that you talked to me to-day.

PEPEL. When should I? It isn’t the first time I speak to you.

NATASHA. And why should I go with you? I don’t love you so very much – sometimes I like you – and other times the mere sight of you makes me sick.. it seems – no – I don’t really love you.. when one really loves, one sees no fault… But I do see.

PEPEL. Never mind – you’ll love me after a while! I’ll make you care for me.. if you’ll just say yes! For over a year I’ve watched you.. you’re a decent girl.. you’re kind – you’re reliable – I’m very much in love with you.

[Vassilisa, in her best dress, appears at window and listens.]

NATASHA. Yes – you love me – but how about my sister.. ?

PEPEL [confused] Well, what of her? There are plenty like her.

LUKA. You’ll be all right, girl! If there’s no bread, you have to eat weeds.

PEPEL [gloomily] Please – feel a little sorry for me! My life isn’t all roses – it’s a hell of a life.. little happiness in it.. I feel as if a swamp were sucking me under.. and whatever I try to catch and hold on to, is rotten.. it breaks.. Your sister – oh – I thought she was different.. if she weren’t so greedy after money.. I’d have done anything for her sake, if she were only all mine.. but she must have someone else.. and she has to have money – and freedom.. because she doesn’t like the straight and narrow.. she can’t help me. But you’re like a young fir-tree.. you bend, but you don’t break.

LUKA. Yes – go with him, girl, go! He’s a good lad – he’s all right! Only tell him every now and then that he’s a good lad so that he won’t forget it – and he’ll believe you. Just you keep on telling him “Vasya, you’re a good man – don’t you forget it!” Just think, dear, where else could you go except with him? Your sister is a savage beast.. and as for her husband, there’s little to say of him? He’s rotten beyond words.. and all this life here, where will it get you? But this lad is strong.

NATASHA. Nowhere to go – I know – I thought of it. The only thing is – I’ve no faith in anybody – and there’s no place for me to turn to.

PEPEL. Yes, there is! But I won’t let you go that way – I’d rather cut your throat!

NATASHA [smiling] There – I’m not his wife yet – and he talks already of killing me!

PEPEL [puts his arms around her] Come, Natasha! Say yes!

NATASHA [holding him close] But I’ll tell you one thing, Vassily – I swear it before God.. the first time you strike me or hurt me any other way, I’ll have no pity on myself.. I’ll either hang myself.. or.