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044 - Book Seven Chapter Two · Brothers Karamazov

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of The Brothers Karamtsev by Fayodor Dostayevsky,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Constance Garnet. This librovox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain recording by Tony Addison, Chapter two A critical moment.
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  Speaker 1: Father Paissi, of course was not wrong when he decided
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  Speaker 1: that his dear boy would come back again. Perhaps indeed,
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  Speaker 1: to some extent he penetrated with insight into the true
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  Speaker 1: meaning of Alyosha's spiritual condition. Yet I must frankly own
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  Speaker 1: that it would be very difficult for me to give
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  Speaker 1: a clear account of that strain vague moment in the
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  Speaker 1: life of the young hero I love so much. To
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  Speaker 1: Father Paise's sorrowful question, are you two with those of
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  Speaker 1: little faith? I could, of course confidently answer for Alyosha, no,
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  Speaker 1: he is not with those of little faith, quite the contrary. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: all his trouble came from the fact that he was
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  Speaker 1: of great faith. But still the trouble was there, and
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  Speaker 1: was so agonizing that even long afterwards, how Lyosha thought
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  Speaker 1: of that sorrowful day as one of the bitterest and
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  Speaker 1: most fatal days of his life. If the question is asked,
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  Speaker 1: could all his grief and disturbance have been only due
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  Speaker 1: to the fact that his eldest body had shown signs
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  Speaker 1: of premature decomposition, instead of at once performing miracles, I
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  Speaker 1: must answer, without beating about the bush. Yes, it certainly was.
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  Speaker 1: I would only beg the reader not to be in
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  Speaker 1: too great a hurry to laugh at my young hero's
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  Speaker 1: pure art. I am far from intending to apologize for him,
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  Speaker 1: or to justify his innocent faith on the ground of
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  Speaker 1: his youth, or the little progress he had made in
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  Speaker 1: his studies, or any such reason. I must declare on
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  Speaker 1: the contrary, that I have genuine respect for the qualities
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  Speaker 1: of his heart. No doubt a youth who is received
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  Speaker 1: impressions cautiously, whose love was lukewarm, and whose mind was
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  Speaker 1: too prudent for his age, and so of little value.
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  Speaker 1: Such a young man might, I admit, have avoided what
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  Speaker 1: happened to my hero. But in some cases it is
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  Speaker 1: really more creditable to be carried away by an emotion,
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  Speaker 1: however unreasonable, which springs from a great love, than to
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  Speaker 1: be unmoved. And this is even truer in youth. For
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  Speaker 1: a young man who is always sensible is to be
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  Speaker 1: suspected and is of little worth. That's my opinion. But
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  Speaker 1: reasonable people will exclaim, perhaps every young man cannot believe
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  Speaker 1: in such a superstition, and your hero is no model
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  Speaker 1: for others. To this, I reply again, Yes, my hero
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  Speaker 1: had faith, a faith wholly and steadfast. But still I
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  Speaker 1: am not going to apologize for him. Though I declared above,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps too hastily, that I should not explain or
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  Speaker 1: justify my hero, I see that some explanation is necessary
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  Speaker 1: for the understanding of the rest of my story. Let
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  Speaker 1: me say, then, it was not a question of miracles.
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  Speaker 1: There was no frivolous and impatient expectation of mirror calls
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  Speaker 1: in his mind, and Alyosha needed no miracles at the
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  Speaker 1: time for the triumph of some preconceived idea. Oh no,
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  Speaker 1: not at all. What he saw before all was one figure,
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  Speaker 1: the figure of his beloved elder, the figure of that
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  Speaker 1: holy man whom he revered with such adoration. The fact
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  Speaker 1: is that all the love that lay concealed in his
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  Speaker 1: pure young heart for everyone and everything, had for the
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  Speaker 1: past year been concentrated, and perhaps wrongly so, on one being,
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  Speaker 1: his beloved Elder. It is true that being had for
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  Speaker 1: so long been accepted by him as his ideal, that
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  Speaker 1: all his young strength and energy could not but turn
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  Speaker 1: towards that ideal, even to the forgetting at the moment
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  Speaker 1: of every one and everything. He remembered afterwards, how on
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  Speaker 1: that terrible day he had entirely forgotten his brother Dimitri,
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  Speaker 1: about whom he had been so anxious and troubled the
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  Speaker 1: day before. He had forgotten too to take the two
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  Speaker 1: hundred roubles to Ilucia's father, though he had so warmly
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  Speaker 1: intended to do so the preceding evening. But again, it
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  Speaker 1: was not miracles he needed, but only the higher justice,
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  Speaker 1: which had been in his belief outraged by the blow
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  Speaker 1: that had so suddenly and cruelly wounded his heart. And
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  Speaker 1: what does it signified that this justice looked for by
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  Speaker 1: Alyosha inevitably took the shape of miracles to be wrought
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  Speaker 1: immediately by the ashes of his adored teacher. Why everyone
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  Speaker 1: in the monastery cherished the same thought and the same hope,
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  Speaker 1: even those whose intellects Alyosha revered Father Paisi himself, for instance.
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  Speaker 1: And so Alyosha, untroubled by doubts, clothed his dreams too,
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  Speaker 1: in the same form as all the rest and a
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  Speaker 1: whole year of life in the monastery had formed the
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  Speaker 1: habit of this expectation in his heart. But it was justice,
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  Speaker 1: justice he thirsted for, not simply miracles. And now the man,
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  Speaker 1: who should he believed, have been exalted above every one
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  Speaker 1: in the whole world, that man, instead of receiving the
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  Speaker 1: glory that was his due, was suddenly degraded and dishonored.
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  Speaker 1: What for who had judged him? Who could have decreed this?
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  Speaker 1: Those were the questions that wrung his inexperienced and virginal heart.
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  Speaker 1: He could not endure without mortification with resent, even that
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  Speaker 1: the holiest of holy men should have been exposed to
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  Speaker 1: the jeering and spiteful mockery of the provolous crowd so
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  Speaker 1: inferior to him, even had there been no miracles, had
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  Speaker 1: there been nothing marvelous to justify his hopes. Why this indignity,
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  Speaker 1: Why this humiliation, Why this premature decay in excess of nature,
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  Speaker 1: as the spiteful monks said, Why this sign from heaven
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  Speaker 1: in which they so triumphantly acclaimed in company with Father Pherapont,
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  Speaker 1: And why did they believe they had gained the right
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  Speaker 1: to acclaim it? Where is the finger of providence why
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  Speaker 1: did providence hide its face at the most critical moment?
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  Speaker 1: So Alyosha thought it as though voluntarily submitting to the blind, dumb,
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  Speaker 1: pitiless law of nature. That was why Alyosha's heart was bleeding.
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  Speaker 1: And of course, as I have said already, the sting
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  Speaker 1: of it all was that the man he loved above
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  Speaker 1: everything on earth should be put to shame and humiliated.
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  Speaker 1: This murmuring may have been shallow and unreasonable in my hero,
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  Speaker 1: But I repeat again for the third time, and am
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  Speaker 1: prepared to admit that it might be difficult to defend
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  Speaker 1: my feeling. I am glad that my hero showed himself
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  Speaker 1: not too reasonable at that moment, For any man of
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  Speaker 1: sense will always come back to reason in time. But
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  Speaker 1: if love does not gain the upper hand in a
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  Speaker 1: boy's heart at such an exceptional moment, when will it.
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  Speaker 1: I will, not, however, omit to mention something strange which
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  Speaker 1: came for a time to the surface of Alyosha's mind
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  Speaker 1: at this fatal and obscure moment. This new something was
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  Speaker 1: the harassing impression led by the conversation with Ivan, which
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  Speaker 1: now persistently haunted Alyosha's mind. At this moment. It warnted
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  Speaker 1: him oh, it was not that something of the fundamental elemental,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak, faith of his soul had been shaped.
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  Speaker 1: He loved his God and believed in him steadfastly, though
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  Speaker 1: he was suddenly murmuring against him. Yet a vague but
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  Speaker 1: tormenting and evil impression left by his conversation with Ivan
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  Speaker 1: the day before suddenly revived again, now in his soul
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  Speaker 1: and seemed forcing its way to the surface of his consciousness.
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  Speaker 1: It had begun to get dusk when Rakitin, crossing the
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  Speaker 1: pine cops from the hermitage to the monastery, suddenly noticed
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  Speaker 1: Alyosha lying face downwards on the ground under a tree,
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  Speaker 1: not moving and apparently asleep. He went up and called
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  Speaker 1: him by his name. You here, Alexey. Can you have
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  Speaker 1: he began wondering, but broke off. He had meant to say,
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  Speaker 1: can you have come to this? Alyosha did not look
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  Speaker 1: at him, but from a slight movement, Rakitin at once
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  Speaker 1: saw that he heard and understood him. What's the matter?
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  Speaker 1: He went on, but the surprise in his face gradually
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  Speaker 1: passed into a smile that became more and more ironical.
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  Speaker 1: I say, I've been looking for you for the last
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  Speaker 1: two hours. You suddenly disappeared. What are you about? What
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  Speaker 1: foolery is this? You might just look at me. Alyosha
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  Speaker 1: raised his head, sat up, and leaned his back against
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  Speaker 1: the tree. He was not crying, but there was a
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  Speaker 1: look of suffering and irritability in his face. He did
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  Speaker 1: not look at Rakitin, however, but looked away to one
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  Speaker 1: side of him. Do you know your face is quite changed?
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  Speaker 1: There's none of your famous mildness to be seen in it.
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  Speaker 1: Are you angry with some one? Have they been ill
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  Speaker 1: treating you? Let me alone? Said Alyosha suddenly, with a
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  Speaker 1: weary gesture of his hand, still looking away from him.
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  Speaker 1: Oh ho, so that's how we are feeling. So you
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  Speaker 1: can shout at people like other models. That is a
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  Speaker 1: come down from the angels. I say, Alyosha, you have
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  Speaker 1: surprised me, do you hear? I mean it. It's long
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  Speaker 1: since I've been surprised at anything here. I always took
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  Speaker 1: you for an educated man. Alyosha at last looked at him,
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  Speaker 1: but vaguely, as though scarcely understanding what he said. Can
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  Speaker 1: you really be so upset simply because your old man
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  Speaker 1: has begun to stink? You don't mean to say you
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  Speaker 1: seriously believed that he was going to work miracles, exclaimed Rakitin,
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  Speaker 1: genuinely surprised. Again, I believed, I believe, I want to believe,
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  Speaker 1: and I well believe. What more do you want? Cried
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  Speaker 1: Alyosha irritably. Nothing atone? My boy? Dumb it all? Why
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  Speaker 1: no school boy of thirteen believes in that? Now? But
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  Speaker 1: there so? Now you are in a temple with your god.
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  Speaker 1: You are rebelling against him. He hasn't given promotion, he
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  Speaker 1: hasn't bestowed the order of merit. He you are a set.
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  Speaker 1: Alyosha gazed a long while with his eyes half closed
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  Speaker 1: at Rakitin, and there was a sudden gleam in his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: but not of anger with Rakitin. I am not rebelling
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  Speaker 1: against my god. I simply don't accept his world. Alyosha
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  Speaker 1: suddenly smiled, a forced smile. How do you mean you
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  Speaker 1: don't accept the world? Rakitin thought a moment over his answer.
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  Speaker 1: What idiocy is this? Alyosha did not answer, Come enough nonsense,
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  Speaker 1: Now to business. Have you had anything to eat to day?
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  Speaker 1: I don't remember. I think I have you need keeping
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  Speaker 1: up to judge? By your face, it makes one sorry
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  Speaker 1: to look at you you didn't sleep all night either.
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  Speaker 1: I hear you had a meeting in there, and then
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  Speaker 1: all this bobbery afterwards. Most likely you've had nothing to
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  Speaker 1: eat but a mouthful of holy bread. I've got some
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  Speaker 1: sausage in my pocket. I've brought it from the town
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  Speaker 1: in case of need. Only you won't eat sausage, give
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  Speaker 1: me some, I say, you are going it? Why it's
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  Speaker 1: a regular mutiny with barricades. Well, my boy, we must
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  Speaker 1: make the most of it. Come to my place. I
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't mind to drop a vodka myself. I am downed
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  Speaker 1: to death. Vodka is going too far for you, I suppose,
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  Speaker 1: Or would you like some? Give me some vodka too? Hello,
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  Speaker 1: you surprise me? Brother Rakitin looked at him in amazement. Well,
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  Speaker 1: one way or another, vodka or sausage. This is a
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  Speaker 1: jolly fying chance and mustn't be missed. Come along. Alyosha
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  Speaker 1: got up in silence and followed Rakitin. If your little
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  Speaker 1: brother Ivan could see this, wouldn't he be surprised by
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  Speaker 1: the way your brother Yvan set off to Moscow this morning?
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  Speaker 1: Did you know? Yes, answered Alyosha listlessly, and suddenly the
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  Speaker 1: image of his brother Dmitri rose before his mind, but
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  Speaker 1: only for a minute. And though it reminded him of
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  Speaker 1: something that must not be put up for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: some duty, some terrible obligation, even that reminder made no
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  Speaker 1: impression on him, did not reach his heart, and instantly
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  Speaker 1: fade it out of his mind and was forgotten. But
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  Speaker 1: a long while afterwards, Alyosha remembered this. Your brother Yvan
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  Speaker 1: declared once that I was a liberal booby with no
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  Speaker 1: talents whatsoever. Once you too could not resist letting me
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  Speaker 1: know I was dishonorable. Well, I should like to see
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  Speaker 1: what your talents and sense of honor will do for you.
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  Speaker 1: Now this phrase, Rakitin finished to himself in a whisper. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: he said, a lad, let's go by the path beyond
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  Speaker 1: the monastery, straight to the town. Hum. I ought to
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  Speaker 1: go to Madame Hohlakov's by the way. Only fancy I've
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  Speaker 1: written to tell her everything that happened, And would you
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  Speaker 1: believe it? She answered me instantly in pencil. The lady
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  Speaker 1: has a passion for writing notes that she would never
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  Speaker 1: have expected such conduct from a man of such irreverent
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  Speaker 1: character as Father Zossima. That was her very word conduct.
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  Speaker 1: She is angry to ah, you are a set stay,
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  Speaker 1: he cried. Suddenly again, he suddenly stopped, and taking Alyosha
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  Speaker 1: by the shoulder, made him stop too. Do you know, Alyosha?
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  Speaker 1: He peeped inquisitively into his eyes, absorbed in a sudden
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  Speaker 1: new thought which had dawned on him. And though he
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  Speaker 1: was laughing outwardly, he was evidently afraid to utter that
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  Speaker 1: new idea aloud. So difficult he still found it to
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  Speaker 1: believe in the strange and unexpected mood in which he
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  Speaker 1: now saw Alyosha. Alyosha, do you know where we had
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  Speaker 1: better go? He brought out, at last, timidly and insinuatingly,
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  Speaker 1: I don't care where you like. Let's go to Grushenka. Eh,
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  Speaker 1: will you come, pronounced Rakitin at last, trembling with timid suspense,
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  Speaker 1: Let's go to Grushenka. Alyosha answered calmly at once. And
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  Speaker 1: this prompt and calm agreement was such a surprise to
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  Speaker 1: Rakitin that he almost started back. Well, I say, he cried,
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  Speaker 1: in amazement, But seizing Alyosha firmly by the arm, he
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  Speaker 1: led him along the path, still dreading that he would
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  Speaker 1: change his mind. They walked along in silence. Rakitin was
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  Speaker 1: positively afraid to talk, and how glad she will be,
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  Speaker 1: how delighted he muttered, but lapsed into silence again. And
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  Speaker 1: indeed it was not to please Grushenka he was taking
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  Speaker 1: Alyosha to her. He was a practical person and never
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  Speaker 1: undertook anything without a prospect of gain for himself. His
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  Speaker 1: object in this case was twofold. First a revengeful desire
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  Speaker 1: to see the downfall of the righteous and Alyosha's fall
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  Speaker 1: from the saints to the sinners, over which he was
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  Speaker 1: already gloating in his imagine nation. And in the second
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  Speaker 1: place he had in view a certain material gain for himself,
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  Speaker 1: of which more will be said later. So the critical
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  Speaker 1: moment has come, he thought to himself, with spiteful glib
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  Speaker 1: and we shall catch it on the hop for it's
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  Speaker 1: just what we want. End of Chapter forty four.