The Lower Depths

SATINE. To be sure! Time passed on – and gave us – the Criminal Code.. It’s a strong law, brother – it won’t wear off so very soon!

NASTYA [banging her glass on the table] Why – why do I stay here – with you? I’ll go away somewhere – to the ends of the world!

THE BARON. Without any shoes, my lady?

NASTYA. I’ll go – naked, if must be – creeping on all fours!

THE BARON. That’ll be rather picturesque, my lady – on all fours!

NASTYA. Yes – and I’ll crawl if I have to – anything at all – as long as I don’t have to see your faces any longer – oh, I’m so sick of it all – the life – the people – everything!

SATINE. When you go, please take the actor along – he’s preparing to go to the very same place – he has learned that within a half mile’s distance of the end of the world there’s a hospital for diseased organons.

THE ACTOR [raising his head over the top of the stove] A hospital for organisms – you fool!

SATINE. For organons – poisoned with vodka!

THE ACTOR. Yes! He will go! He will indeed! You’ll see!

THE BARON. Who is he, sir?

THE ACTOR. I!

THE BARON. Thanks, servant of the goddess – what’s her name – ? The goddess of drama – tragedy – whatever is her name – ?

THE ACTOR. The muse, idiot! Not the goddess – the muse!

SATINE. Lachesis – Hera – Aphrodite – Atropos – oh! To hell with them all! You see – Baron – it was the old man who stuffed the actor’s head full with this rot.

THE BARON. That old man’s a fool.

THE ACTOR. Ignoramuses! Beasts! Melpomene – that’s her name! Heartless brutes! Bastards! You’ll see! He’ll go! “On with the orgy, dismal spirits!” – poem – ah – by Béranger! Yes – he’ll find some spot where there’s no – no.

THE BARON. Where there’s nothing, sir?

THE ACTOR. Right! Nothing! “This hole shall be my grave – I am dying – ill and exhausted.” Why do you exist? Why?

THE BARON. You! God or genius or orgy – or whatever you are – don’t roar so loud!

THE ACTOR. You lie! I’ll roar all I want to!

NASTYA [lifting her head from the table and throwing up her hands] Go on! Yell! Let them listen to you!

THE BARON. Where is the sense, my lady?

SATINE. Leave them alone, Baron! To hell with the lot! Let them yell – let them knock their damned heads off if they feel like it! There’s a method in their madness! Don’t you go and interfere with people as that old fellow did! Yes – it’s he – the damned old fool – he bewitched the whole gang of us!

KLESHTCH. He persuaded them to go away – but failed to show them the road.

THE BARON. That old man was a humbug!

NASTYA. Liar! You’re a humbug yourself!

THE BARON. Shut up, my lady!

KLESHTCH. The old man didn’t like truth very much – as a matter of fact he strongly resented it – and wasn’t he right, though? Just look – where is there any truth? And yet, without it, you can’t breathe! For instance, our Tartar Prince over there, crushed his hand at his work – and now he’ll have to have his arm amputated – and there’s the truth for you!

SATINE [striking the table with his clenched fist] Shut up! You sons of bitches! Fools! Not another word about that old fellow! [To the Baron] You, Baron, are the worst of the lot! You don’t understand a thing, and you lie like the devil! The old man’s no humbug! What’s the truth? Man! Man – that’s the truth! He understood man – you don’t! You’re all as dumb as stones! I understand the old man – yes! He lied – but lied out of sheer pity for you.. God damn you! Lots of people lie out of pity for their fellow-beings! I know! I’ve read about it! They lie – oh – beautifully, inspiringly, stirringly! Some lies bring comfort, and others bring peace – a lie alone can justify the burden which crushed a workman’s hand and condemns those who are starving! I know what lying means! The weakling and the one who is a parasite through his very weakness – they both need lies – lies are their support, their shield, their armor! But the man who is strong, who is his own master, who is free and does not have to suck his neighbors’ blood – he needs no lies! To lie – it’s the creed of slaves and masters of slaves! Truth is the religion of the free man!

THE BARON. Bravo! Well spoken! Hear, hear! I agree! You speak like an honest man!

SATINE. And why can’t a crook at times speak the truth – since honest people at times speak like crooks? Yes – I’ve forgotten a lot – but I still know a thing or two! The old man? Oh – he’s wise! He affected me as acid affects a dirty old silver coin! Let’s drink to his health! Fill the glasses.. [Nastya fills a glass with beer and hands it to Satine, who laughs] The old man lives within himself.. he looks upon all the world from his own angle. Once I asked him: “Grand-dad, why do people live?” [Tries to imitate Luka’s voice and gestures] And he replied: “Why, my dear fellow, people live in the hope of something better! For example – let’s say there are carpenters in this world, and all sorts of trash.. people.. and they give birth to a carpenter the like of which has never been seen upon the face of the earth.. he’s way above everybody else, and has no equal among carpenters! The brilliancy of his personality was reflected on all his trade, on all the other carpenters, so that they advanced twenty years in one day! This applies to all other trades – blacksmiths and shoemakers and other workmen – and all the peasants – and even the aristocrats live in the hopes of a higher life! Each individual thinks that he’s living for his own Self, but in reality he lives in the hope of something better. A hundred years – sometimes longer – do we expect, live for the finer, higher life.” [Nastya stares intently into Satine’s face. Kleshtch stops working and listens. The Baron bows his head very low, drumming softly on the table with his fingers. The Actor, peering down from the stove, tries to climb noiselessly into the bunk] “Every one, brothers, every one lives in the hope of something better. That’s why we must respect each and every human being! How do we know who he is, why he was born, and what he is capable of accomplishing? Perhaps his coming into the world will prove to be our good fortune.. Especially must we respect little children! Children – need freedom! Don’t interfere with their lives! Respect children!” [Pause]

THE BARON [thoughtfully] Hm – yes – something better? – That reminds me of my family.. an old family dating back to the time of Catherine.. all noblemen, soldiers, originally French.. they served their country and gradually rose higher and higher. In the days of Nicholas the First my grandfather, Gustave DeBille, held a high post – riches – hundreds of serfs.. horses – cooks —

NASTYA. You liar! It isn’t true!

THE BARON [jumping up] What? Well – go on —

NASTYA. It isn’t true.

THE BARON [screams] A house in Moscow! A house in Petersburg! Carriages! Carriages with coats of arms!

[Kleshtch takes his concertina and goes to one side, watching the scene with interest.]

NASTYA. You lie!

THE BARON. Shut up! – I say – dozens of footmen.

NASTYA [delighted] You lie!

THE BARON. I’ll kill you!

NASTYA [ready to run away] There were no carriages!

SATINE. Stop, Nastenka! Don’t infuriate him!

THE BARON. Wait – you bitch! My grandfather.

NASTYA. There was no grandfather! There was nothing!

[Satine roars with laughter.]

THE BARON [worn out with rage, sits down on bench] Satine! Tell that slut – what – ? You, too, are laughing? You – don’t believe me either? [Cries out in despair, pounding the table with his fists] It’s true – damn the whole lot of you!

NASTYA [triumphantly] So – you’re crying? Understand now what a human being feels like when nobody believes him?

KLESHTCH [returning to the table] I thought there’d be a fight.