NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
A monologue from the
novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Notes From the Underground. Trans. Constance Garnett.
New York: Macmillian Company, 1918. |
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NARRATOR: As soon as I go in I'll give it him. Ought
I before giving him the slap to say a few words by way of preface?
No. I'll simply go in and give it him. They will all be sitting
in the drawing-room, and he with Olympia on the sofa. That damned
Olympia! She laughed at my looks on one occasion and refused
me. I'll pull Olympia's hair, pull Zverkov's ears! No, better
one ear, and pull him by it round the room. Maybe they will all
begin beating me and will kick me out. That's most likely, indeed.
No matter! Anyway, I shall first slap him; the initiative will
be mine; and by the laws of honour that is everything: he will
be branded and cannot wipe off the slap by any blows, by nothing
but a duel. He will be forced to fight. And let them beat me
now. Let them, the ungrateful wretches! Trudolyubov will beat
me hardest, he is so strong; Ferfitchkin will be sure to catch
hold sideways and tug at my hair. But no matter, no matter! That's
what I am going for. The blockheads will be forced at last to
see the tragedy of it all! When they drag me to the door I shall
call out to them that in reality they are not worth my little
finger. It's settled then--we shall fight at daybreak.
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MONOLOGUES BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY |
