by Albert Camus
MAURICE (rising suddenly); What? Don't you
love her? Didn't you try to win her hand?
STAVROGIN: I can't ever talk to anyone of my feel-
ings for a woman, except to the woman herself.
Forgive me, but that's a quirk of my nature.
However, I can tell you the truth as to every-
thing else: I am married, and hence it is not pos-
107 Scene 11
sible for me to marry another woman or to try
to win her hand, as yon say.
(MAURICE NICOLAEVICH looks at him as if petrified,
grows pale, and strikes the table violently with
his fist.)
MAURICE: If after such a confession you don't
leave Lisa alone, I'll take a club and beat you to
death like a dog.
{He leaps up and rushes out, at the door bumping
into PETER VERKHOVENSKY, who is on the point of
coming in.)]
PETER: Why, he's crazy I What did you do to
him?
STAVROGIN (laughing): Nothing. Besides, it doesn't
concern you.
PETER: I am sure he came to offer you his fiancee.
Eh? I am the one who indirectly pushed him into
it, if you want to know. And if he refuses to give
her to us, we'll take her ourselves, won't we?
She's a juicy morsel.*
STAVROGIN: You still intend to help me take her, I
see.
PETER: As soon as you decide to. We'll get rid of
your responsibilities for you. It won't cost you
anything.
STAVROGIN: Oh, yes it will. Fifteen hundred rubles
* After omitting the preceding scene, the following text was
substituted for the last three lines:
ALEXEY (coming in): Peter Verkhovensky insists on seeing
you.
PETER (following him closely): I have just met Maurice
Nicolaevich. He wanted to give you his fiancee. I advised
him to wait. Besides, we don't really need him; she is crazy
to come. We'll go and get her ourselves, won't we? She's a
juicy morsel.
Second Part
108
. . . By the way, what have you come for?
PETER: What? Have you forgotten? What about
our meeting? I have come to remind you that it
takes place in an hour.
STAVROGIN: Oh, to be sure! Excellent idea. You
couldn't have picked a more opportune moment.
I feel like having a good time. What part am I
supposed to play?
PETER: YOU are one of the members of the Central
Committee and you know all about the whole
secret organization.
STAVROGiN: What am I to do?
PETER: just assume a mysterious look, that's all.
STAVROGiN: But there is no Central Committee?
PETER: Yes, there is. You and I.
STAVROGIN: In other words, you. And there is no
organization?
PETER: There will be one if I can manage to or-
ganize those idiots into a group, to weld them
into a single unit.
STAVROGIN: How will you go about it?
PETER: Well, to begin with, titles and functions�
secretary, treasurer, president�you know the
kind of thing! Then sentimentality. For them
justice is a matter of sentimentality. Hence, they
must be given plenty of opportunity to talk,
especially the stupider ones. In any case, they are
united by fear of opinion. That is the motivating
force, the real cement. The thing they fear most
of all is being taken for reactionaries. Conse-
quently, they are obliged to be revolutionaries.
They would be ashamed of thinking for them-
109 Scene 11
selves, of having an individual Idea. As a result,
they will think as I want them to.
STAVROGIN : Excellent program! But I know a much
better way of cementing this pretty group to-
gether. Force four members to kill the fifth on
the pretext that he is a stool pigeon, and they will
be bound by blood. But how stupid I am�it's
precisely your idea, isn't it, since you want to
have Shatov killed?
PETER: I! Why . . . what makes you think of
such a thing!
STAVROGIN: No, Vm not thinking of It. But you
are. And if you want my opinion, it's not at all
? stupid. [In order to bind men together, there is
something stronger than sentimentality or fear of
opinion; it is dishonor.] The best way of attract-
ing our fellow citizens and of sweeping them
along with you is to preach publicly the right to
dishonor.
PETER: Yes, I know it. Hurrah for dishonor and
everybody will come to us; no one will want to
lag behind. Ah, Stavrogin, you understand every-
thing! You will be the leader and I'll be your
secretary. We shall set sail on a noble ship. The
masts will be of polished wood, the sails silken,
and on the high stern we shall put Lisa Nico-
layevna.
STAVROGIN: There are only two objections to that
prophecy. The first is that I shall not be your
leader�
PETER: YOU will; I'll explain to you.
STAVROGIN: The second is that I'll not help you
Secon-d Part
no
kill Shatov to bind your idiots together. (He
laughs uproariously.)
PETER (bursting with ivrath): I ... I must go
and tell Kirilov.
(He rushes out. The moment he is gone, STAV-
ROGIN ceases laughing and sits down on the sofa,
silent and sinister-looking.)
BLACKOUT
The street, PETER VERKHOVENSKY is walking to-
ward Kirilov's.
THE NARRATOR (suddenly appearing as VERKHOVEN-
SKY disappears): At the same time that Peter
Verkhovensky arrived, something began spread-
ing over the town. Mysterious fires broke out;
the number of thefts doubled. A second lieuten-
ant who had got into the habit of lighting candles
in his room in front of books expounding materi-
alistic ideas suddenly scratched and bit his com-
manding officer. A lady of the highest society
began beating her children at fixed intervals and
insulting the poor whenever she had an opportu-
nity. And another wanted to practice free love
with her husband. "That's impossible," she was
told. "What do you mean?" she exclaimed;
"we're free, aren't we?" We were free indeed,
but of what?
SCENE 12
KIRILOV, FEDKA, and PETER VERKHOVENSKY in the
living room of the Filipov rooming house. Shatoifs
room is dimly lighted.
PETER (to FEDKA) : Mr. Kirilov will hide you.
FEDKA: You are a vile little insect, but I'll obey
you, I'll obey you. Just remember what you
promised me.
PETER: Go and hide.
FEDKA: I'll obey. Just remember, (FEDKA disap-
pears.)
KIRILOV (as if noting a fact): He loathes you.
PETER: He doesn't have to like me; all he has to do
is obey me. Sit down,
I have something to say to
you. I came to remind you of the agreement
binding us.
KIRILOV: I am not bound by anything or to any-
thing.
PETER (giving a start): What, have you changed
your mind?
KIRILOV: I have not changed my mind. But I act
according to my own will. I am free.
PETER: All right, all right. I am willing to admit
that it is your own free will, provided that your
will hasn't changed. You get excited about a
word. You have become very irritable of late.
KIRILOV: I am not irritable, but I don't like you.
Yet I shall keep my word.
Second Part
112
PETER: But it must be very clear between us. You
still intend to kill yourself?
KIRILQV: Still.
PETER: Fine. Admit that no one is forcing you
to it.
KIRILOV: You are expressing yourself stupidly. -
PETER: All right, all right. I expressed myself very
stupidly. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, no one can
force you. Let me go on. You belonged to our
organization and you confessed your plan to one
of its members?
KIRILOV: I did not confess anything; I simply said
what I would do.
PETER: Good, good. Indeed, there was no reason
to confess anything. You simply made a state-
ment. Fine.
KIRILOV: No, it's not fine. You're just talking. I
made up my mind to kill myself because I want
to. You saw that my suicide could help the or-
ganization. If you commit a crime here and the
guilty are pursued, I blow out my brains, leaving
a letter in which I declare that I am the guilty
one. So you asked me to wait a while before kill-
ing myself. I answered that I would wait, since it
didn't matter to me.
PETER: Good. But you gave your word to write
the letter with my help and to wait for my or-
ders. Only in this matter, of course, for in every-
thing else you are free.
KIRILOV: I didn't give my word. I agreed because
it was a matter of indifference to me.
PETER: If you wish. Do you still feel the same?
KIRILOV: Yes. Will it be soon?
113 Scene 12
PETER: * In a few days.
KIRILOV (rising as if reflecting):' Of what should I
declare myself guilty?
PETER: You'll know In time.
KIRILOV: Good. But don't forget this: I'll not help
you In any way against Stavrogin.
PETER: All right, all right.
(SHATOV enters from an inner room, KIRILOV sits
down in a corner.)
PETER: It's good of you to have come.
SHATOV: I don't need your approval.
PETER: You are wrong. In the fix you are In, you
will need my help, and I have already used up
considerable breath in your favor.
SHATOV: I don't have to answer to anyone. I am
free.
PETER: Not altogether. Many things were en-
trusted to you. You have no right to break off
without warning.
SHATOV: I sent a very clear letter.
PETER: We didn't understand it clearly. They say
that you might denounce them now. I defended
you.
SHATOV: Yes, just as there are lawyers who make a
business of getting people hanged.
PETER: In any case, they have agreed now for you
to be free if only you return the printing press
and the papers.
PETER: Where is the press?
SHATOV: In the forest. Near the Brykovo clearing.
I buried everything in the ground.
PETER (ivith a sort of smile): In the ground?
Very good! Why, it's very good indeed!
Second Part 114
(There is a knock at the door. The plotters enter:
LIPUTIN, VIRGINSKY, SHIGALOV, LYAMSHIN, and a
defrocked seminarian. As they settle doivn, they
are already talking, SHATOV and KIRILOV in a
comer.)
VIRGINSKY (at the door): Ah! Here is Stavrogin.
LIPUTIN: He's just in time.
THE SEMINARIAN: Gentlemen, I am not accustomed
to waste my time. Since you were so kind as to
invite me to this meeting, may I ask a question?
LIPUTIN: GO ahead, comrade, go ahead. Everyone
here likes you since you played that practical
joke on the woman distributing religious tracts
by sticking obscene photographs in her Bibles.
THE SEMINARIAN: It wasn't a practical joke. I did
it out of conviction, being of the opinion that
God must be destroyed.
LIPUTIN: Is that what they teach in the seminary?
THE SEMINARIAN: No. In the seminary they suffer
because of God. Consequently they hate him. In
any case, here is my question: has the meeting be-
gun or not?
SHIGALOV: Allow me to point'but that we continue
to talk aimlessly. Can the authorities tell us why
we are here?
(All look toward Verkhovensky, tuho changes
his position as if he avere about to speak.)
LIPUTIN (in a hurry): Lyamshin, please, sit down
at the piano.
LYAMSHIN: What? Again! It's the same every time!
LIPUTIN: If you play, no one can hear us. Play,
Lvamshin! For the cause!
VIRGINSKY: Why, yes, play, Lyamshin.
ii5 Scene 12
(LYASSSHIN sits doivn at the piano and plays a
ivaltz haphazardly. All look toward VERKHOVEN-
SKY, who, far from speaking, has resumed his
somnolent position.}
LIPUTIN: Verkhovensky, have you no declaration
to make?
PETER (yawning): Absolutely none. But I should
like a glass of cognac.
LIPUTIN: And you, Stavrogin?
STAVROGIN: NO, thanks, I've given up drinking.
LIPUTIN: I'm not talking of cognac. I'm asking
you if you want to speak.
STAVROGIN: Speak? What about? No.
(VIRGINSKY gives the bottle of cognac to PETER
VERKHOVENSKY, who drinks a great deal during
the evening. But SHIGALOV rises, dull and somber-
looking, and lays on the table a thick notebook
filled with fine writing, which all look at with
fear.)
SHIGALOV: I request the floor.
VIRGINSKY: You have it. Take it.
(LYAMSHIN plays louder.)
THE SEMINARIAN: Please, Mr. Lyamshin, but really
we can't hear ourselves.
(LYAMSHIN stops playing.)
SHIGALOV: Gentlemen, in asking for your atten-
tion, I owe you a few preliminary explanations.
PETER: Lyamshin, pass me the scissors that are on
the piano.
LYAMSHIN: Scissors? For what?
PETER: I forgot to cut my nails. I should have
done so three days ago. Go on, Shigalov, go on;
I'm not listening.
Second Part 116
SHIGALOV:
Having devoted myself wholeheartedly
to studying the society of the future, I reached
the conclusion that from the earliest times down
to the present all creators of social systems simply
indulged in nonsense. So I had to build my own
system of organization. Here it is! (He strikes
the notebook.) To tell the truth, my system is not
completely finished. In its present state, however,
it deserves discussion. For I shall have to explain
to you also the contradiction to which it leads.
Starting from unlimited freedom, I end up in fact
with unlimited despotism.
VIRGINSKY: That will be hard to make the people
swallow!
SHIGALOV: Yes. And yet�let me insist upon it�
there is not and there cannot be any other solu-
tion to the social problem than mine. It may lead
to despair, but there is no other way.
THE SEMINARIAN: If I have understood properly,
the agenda concerns Mr. Shigalov's vast despair.
SHIGALOV: Your expression is more nearly correct
than you think. Yes, I was brought smack up
against despair. And yet there was no other way
out but my solution. If you don't adopt it, you
will do nothing worth while. And someday you'll
come around to it.
THE SEMINARIAN: I suggest voting to find out just
how far Mr. Shigalov's despair interests us and
whether it is necessary for us to devote our meet-
ing to the reading of his book.
VIRGINSKY: Let's vote! Let's vote!
LYAMSHIN: Yes, yes.
H7 Scene 12
LIPUTIN:' Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Let's not get
excited. Shigalov is too modest. I have read his
book. Certain of its conclusions are debatable. But
he started from human nature as we now know it
through science and he really solved the social
problem.
THE SEMINARIAN: Really?
LIPUTIN: Yes indeed. He proposes dividing hu-
manity into two unequal parts. About a tenth
will have absolute freedom and unlimited author-
ity over the other nine tenths, who will have to
lose their personality and become like a flock of
sheep. Kept in the state of complete submission
of sheep, they will, on the other hand, achieve the
state of innocence of sheep. In short, it will be
Eden, except that men will have to work.
SHIGALOV: Yes. That's how I achieve equality. All
men are slaves and equal in their slavery. They
can't be equal otherwise. Hence it is essential to
level. For instance, the level of education and
talent will be lowered. Since men of talent always
tend to rise, Cicero's tongue will have to be torn
out, Copemicus's eyes gouged out, and Shake-
speare stoned. There is my system.
LIPUTIN: Yes, Mr. Shigalov discovered that su-
perior faculties are germs of inequality, hence of
despotism. Consequently, as soon as a man is seen
to have superior gifts, he is shot down or impris-
oned. Even very handsome people are suspect in
this regard and must be suppressed.
SHIGALOV: And even fools, if they are very notable
fools, for they might lead others into the tempta-
Second Part 118
tion of glorying in their superiority, which is a
germ of despotism. By these means, on the other
hand, equality will be absolute.
THE SEMINARIAN: But you have fallen into a con-
tradiction. Such equality is despotism.
SHIGALOV: That's true, and that's what drives me
to despair. But the contradiction disappears the
moment you say that such despotism is equality.
PETER (yawning): What nonsense!
LIPUTIN: Is it really nonsense? On the contrary, I
find it very realistic.
PETER: I wasn't speaking of Shigalov or of his
ideas, which bear the mark of genius, of course,
but I meant all such discussions.
LIPUTIN: By discussing, one might reach a result.
That is better than maintaining silence while pos-
ing as a dictator.
(All approve this direct blow.)
PETER: Writing and constructing systems is just
nonsense. An aesthetic pastime. You are simply
bored here, that's all.
LIPUTIN: We are merely provincial, to be sure,
and therefore worthy of pity. But up to now you
haven't brought out anything sensational either.
Those tracts you gave us say that universal so-
ciety will be improved only by lopping off a
hundred million heads. That doesn't seem to me
any easier to put into practice than Shigalov's
ideas.
PETER: The fact is that, by lopping off a hundred
million heads you progress faster, obviously.
THE SEMINARIAN: You also run the risk of getting
your own head lopped off.
ng Scene 12
PETER: It's a disadvantage. And that's the risk you
always run when you try to establish a new re-
ligion. But I can very well understand, sir, that
you would hesitate. And I consider that you have
the right to withdraw.
THE SEMINARIAN: I didn't say that. And I am
ready to bind myself difinitively to an organiza-
