THE LOWER DEPTHS
A monologue from the
play by Maxim
Gorky
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from The Moscow Art Theatre Series of Plays. Ed. Oliver
M. Sayler. New York: Brantanos, 1922. |
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LUKA: There -- you say -- truth! Truth doesn't always
heal a wounded soul. For instance, I knew of a man who believed
in a land of righteousness. He said: "Somewhere on this
earth there must be a righteous land -- and wonderful people
live there -- good people! They respect each other, help each
other, and everything is peaceful and good!" And so that
man -- who was always searching for this land of righteousness
-- he was poor and lived miserably -- and when things got to
be so bad with him that it seemed there was nothing else for
him to do except lie down and die -- even then he never lost
heart -- but he'd just smile and say: "Never mind! I can
stand it! A little while longer -- and I'll have done with this
life -- and I'll go in search of the righteous land!" --
it was his one happiness -- the thought of that land. And then
to this place -- in Siberia, by the way -- there came a convict
-- a learned man with books and maps -- yes, a learned man who
knew all sorts of things -- and the other man said to him: "Do
me a favor -- show me where is the land of righteousness and
how I can get there." At once the learned man opened his
books, spread out his maps, and looked and looked and he said
-- no -- he couldn't find this land anywhere . . . everything
was correct -- all the lands on earth were marked -- but not
this land of righteousness. The man wouldn't believe it. . .
. "It must exist," he said, "look carefully. Otherwise,"
he says, "your books and maps are of no use if there's no
land of righteousness." The learned man was offended. "My
plans," he said, "are correct. But there exists no
land of righteousness anywhere." Well, then the other man
got angry. He'd lived and lived and suffered and suffered, and
had believed all the time in the existence of this land -- and
now, according to the plans, it didn't exist at all. He felt
robbed! And he said to the learned man: "Ah -- you scum
of the earth! You're not a learned man at all -- but just a damned
cheat!" -- and he gave him a good wallop in the eye -- then
another one . . . [After a moment's silence.] And then
he went home and hanged himself.
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MONOLOGUES BY MAXIM GORKY |
