The Light Shines in Darkness E-Book

Aylmer Maude

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

In this play in five unfinished acts, Tolstoy portrays the generally negative reactions of a man's family and friends to views that Tolstoy himself advocated. The man, Nicholas, rejects the notion that Christianity should be based upon blind faith and insists that religion must be rational. He feels that people should love one another, that this is the true basic message of Christianity, and therefore people should not volunteer for military service where people kill one another. He also contends that land belongs to everyone and that he must give up the thousands of acres that he owns to the peasants, leaving himself only the bare necessities for life. He knows the light that is shinning in the darkness of the world. Nicholas agues with a priest about Christianity. He contends that the Church has perverted Christianity and is responsible for developing notions that are destroying the truth of Christianity. Contrary to the contentions of the Church, the Church does not preserve the truth. He shows the priest contradictions in the Bible that cannot be reconciled. He argues that the insistence of the Church upon certain ceremonies has divided Christianity into many groups, each with their own sacraments. He insists that humans are responsible for themselves and a Church should not think that it has a duty to direct and control human behavior. The priest agrees with Nicholas that what Nicholas says is reasonable, but insists that a Christian must accept Church doctrine based on faith. Nicholas feels certain that once he explains about the military and about the rights of all people to all land, his wife will see the reasonableness of his position. She does not. She feels that he wants to deprive his future son-in-law of a military life, the life he desires, the life that will give him joy and a livelihood, and the happiness of their daughter. She is shocked when she hears that he wants to give away his property and leave them in near penury. She asks a more senior priest to come and reeducate Nicholas. The priest comes and there is an interesting debate, with the priest constantly calling Nicholas "prideful," as if this explained his behavior. The play's final acts dramatize the adverse effects that Nicholas' teachings have upon some people who accepted and acted upon them and the way that these ideas destroy Nicholas.

Leseprobe

Leo Tolstoy, Aylmer Maude

The Light Shines in Darkness

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Characters

Nicholas Ivánovich Sarýntsov.

Mary Ivánovna Sarýntsova. His Wife.

Lyúba. Their Daughter.

Styópa. Their Son.

Ványa. A Younger Son.

Missy. Their Daughter.

The Sarýntsovs' Little Children.

Alexander Mikáylovich Starkóvsky. (Lyúba's Betrothed In Act Iv).

Mitrofán Ermílych. Ványa's Tutor.

The Sarýntsovs' Governess.

Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva. Mary Ivánovna's Sister.

Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsev. Her Husband.

Lisa. Their Daughter.

Princess Cheremshánov.

Borís. Her Son.

Tónya. Her Daughter.

A Young Priest.

The Sarýntsovs' Nurse.

The Sarýntsovs' Men-Servants.

Iván Zyábrev. A Peasant.

A Peasant Woman. His Wife.

Maláshka. His Daughter (Carrying Her Baby-Brother).

Peter. A Peasant.

A Rural Policeman.

Father Gerásim. A Priest.

A Notary.

A Carpenter.

A General.

His Adjutant.

A Colonel.

A Regimental Clerk.

A Sentinel.

Two Soldiers.

A Gendarme Officer.

His Clerk.

The Chaplain Of The Regiment.

The Chief Doctor In A Military Asylum.

An Assistant Doctor.

Warders.

An Invalid Officer.

Pianist.

Countess.

Alexander Petróvich.

Peasant Men And Women, Students, Ladies, Dancing Couples.

The Light Shines In Darkness

ACT I

SCENE 1

The scene represents the verandah of a fine country-house, in front of which a croquet-lawn and tennis-court are shown, also a flower-bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess. Mary Ivánovna Sarýntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her sister, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsef, a fat flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince-nez, are sitting on the verandah at a table with a samovár and coffee-pot. Mary Ivánovna Sarýntsova, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, and Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is smoking.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and Nicholas Ivánovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage him, _J'aurais trouvé tout ça très gentil_;[1] but when I see that _your_ husband is playing the fool--yes, simply playing the fool--then I can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your husband, Nicholas, too. _Je lui dirai son fait, ma chère._[2] I am not afraid of anyone.

[1] I should have considered it all very pretty.

[2] I will tell him the plain fact, my dear.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all myself? but I don't think it so very important.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you let it go on, you will be beggared. _Du train que cela va ..._[3]

[3] At the rate things are going.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like theirs.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my dear! Anything a _man_ does always seems right to you!

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Oh! I don't know. I was saying----

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because when you men begin playing the fool, _il n'y a pas de raison que ça finisse_.[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not allow it. _J'aurais mis bon ordre à toutes ces lubies._[5] What does it all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons everything, gives everything away, _et fait le généreux à droite et à gauche_.[6] I know how it will end! _Nous en savons quelque chose._[7]

[4] There is no reason for it to stop.

[5] I should put an end to all these fads.

[6] And plays the bountiful left and right.

[7] We know something about it.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH [to Mary Ivánovna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and _tout ce qui s'en suit_;[8] as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but what is this? Explain it to me.

[8] All the rest of it.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. But he told you about it yesterday.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount--and that churches are unnecessary! But then how is one to pray, and all that?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes. That is the worst of it. He would destroy everything, and give us nothing in its place.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. How did it begin?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed man.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. _Il était très gentil et comme tout le monde._[9]

[9] He was very nice, and like everybody else.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he was then quite changed.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. In what way?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely and simply had _l'idée fixe_. He read the Gospels for days on end, and did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and extracts, and then began going to see bishops and hermits--consulting them about religion.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. And did he fast, or prepare for communion?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. From the time of our marriage--that's twenty years ago--till then he had never fasted nor taken the sacrament, but at that time he did once take the sacrament in a monastery, and then immediately afterwards decided that one should neither take communion nor go to church.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. That's what I say--thoroughly inconsistent!

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, a month before, he would not miss a single service, and kept every fast-day; and then he suddenly decided that it was all unnecessary. What can one do with such a man?

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I have spoken and will speak to him again.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Yes! But the matter is of no great importance.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No? Not to you! Because you men have no religion.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Do let me speak. I say that that is not the point. The point is this: if he denies the Church, what does he want the Gospels for?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Well, so that we should live according to the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, and give everything away.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. But how is one to live if one gives everything away?

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. And where has he found in the Sermon on the Mount that we must shake hands with footmen? It says "Blessed are the meek," but it says nothing about shaking hands!

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, of course, he gets carried away, as he always used to. At one time it was music, then shooting, then the school. But that doesn't make it any the easier for me!

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Why has he gone to town to-day?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. He did not tell me, but I know it is about some trees of ours that have been felled. The peasants have been cutting trees in our wood.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. In the pine-tree plantation?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, they will probably be sent to prison and ordered to pay for the trees. Their case was to be heard to-day, he told me of it, so I feel certain that is what he has gone about.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. He will pardon them, and to-morrow they will come to take the trees in the park.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, that is what it leads to. As it is, they break our apple-trees and tread down the green cornfields, and he forgives them everything.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Extraordinary!

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. That is just why I say that it must not be allowed to go on. Why, if it goes on like that, _tout y passera_.[10] I think it is your duty as a mother to _prendre tes mesures_.[11]

[10] Everything will be lost.

[11] To take measures.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. What can I do?

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. What indeed! Stop him! Explain to him that this cannot go on. You have your children! What sort of an example is it for them?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Of course, it is hard; but I go on bearing it, and hoping it will pass, like his former infatuations.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Yes, but "_Aide toi et Dieu t'aidera!_"[12] You must make him feel that he has not only himself to think of, and that one can't live like that.

[12] God helps those who help themselves.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. The worst of all is that he no longer troubles about the children, and I have to decide everything myself. I have an unweaned baby, besides the older children: girls and boys, who have to be looked after, and need guidance. And I have to do it all single-handed. He used to be such an affectionate and attentive father, but now he seems no longer to care. Yesterday I told him that Ványa is not studying properly, and will not pass his exam., and he replied that it would be by far the best thing for him to leave school altogether.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. To go where?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Nowhere! That's the most terrible thing about it; everything we do is wrong, but he does not say what would be right.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. That's odd.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. What is there odd about it? It is just _your_ usual way. Condemn everything, and do nothing yourself!

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Styópa has now finished at the University, and ought to choose a career; but his father says nothing about it. He wanted to take a post in the Civil Service, but Nicholas Ivánovich says he ought not to do so. Then he thought of entering the Horse-Guards, but Nicholas Ivánovich quite disapproved. Then the lad asked his father: "What am I to do then--not go and plough after all?" and Nicholas Ivánovich said: "Why not plough? It is much better than being in a Government Office." So what was he to do? He comes to me and asks, and I have to decide everything, and yet the authority is all in his hands.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Well, you should tell him so straight out.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. So I must! I shall have to talk to him.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. And tell him straight out that you can't go on like this. That you do your duty, and he must do his; or if not--let him hand everything over to you.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. It is all so unpleasant!

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I will tell him, if you like. _Je lui dirai son fait._[13]

[13] I'll tell him the truth.

Enter a young priest, confused and agitated. He carries a book, and shakes hands all round.

PRIEST. I have come to see Nicholas Ivánovich. I have, in fact, come to return a book.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. He has gone to town, but will be back soon.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. What book are you returning?

PRIEST. Oh, it's Mr. Renan's _Life of Jesus_.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Dear me! What books you read!

PRIEST [much agitated, lights a cigarette] It was Nicholas Ivánovich gave it to me to read.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA [contemptuously] Nicholas Ivánovich gave it you! And do you agree with Nicholas Ivánovich and Mr. Renan?

PRIEST. No, of course not. If I really did agree, I should not, in fact, be what is called a servant of the Church.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But if you are, as it is called, a faithful servant of the Church, why don't you convert Nicholas Ivánovich?

PRIEST. Everyone, in fact, has his own views on these matters, and Nicholas Ivánovich really maintains much that is quite true, only he goes astray, in fact, on the main point, the Church.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA [contemptuously] And what are the many things that Nicholas Ivánovich maintains that are quite true? Is it true that the Sermon on the Mount bids us give our property away to strangers and let our own families go begging?