Максим Горький - The Lower Depths

SATINE. Many earn it easily, but not many part with it so easily. Work? Make work pleasant – and maybe I’ll work too. Yes – maybe. When work’s a pleasure, life’s, too. When it’s toil, then life is a drudge. [ To the Actor ] You, Sardanapalus! Come on!

THE ACTOR. Let’s go, Nebuchadnezzar! I’ll get as drunk as forty thousand topers!

[They leave.]

PEPEL [ yawning ] Well, how’s your wife?

KLESHTCH. It seems as if soon – [ Pause. ]

PEPEL. Now I look at you – seems to me all that filing and scraping of yours is useless.

KLESHTCH. Well – what else can I do?

PEPEL. Nothing.

KLESHTCH. How can I live?

PEPEL. People manage, somehow.

KLESHTCH. Them? Call them people? Muck and dregs – that’s what they are! I’m a workman – I’m ashamed even to look at them. I’ve slaved since I was a child… D’you think I shan’t be able to tear myself away from here? I’ll crawl out of here, even if I have to leave my skin behind – but crawl out I will! Just wait.. my wife’ll die.. I’ve lived here six months, and it seems like six years.

PEPEL. Nobody here’s any worse off than you.. say what you like.

KLESHTCH. No worse is right. They’ve neither honor nor conscience.

PEPEL [ indifferently ] What good does it do – honor or conscience? Can you get them on their feet instead of on their uppers – through honor and conscience? Honor and conscience are needed only by those who have power and energy.

BUBNOFF [ coming back ] Oh – I’m frozen.

PEPEL. Bubnoff! Got a conscience?

BUBNOFF. What? A conscience?

PEPEL. Exactly!

BUBNOFF. What do I need a conscience for? I’m not rich.

PEPEL. Just what I said: honor and conscience are for the rich – right! And Kleshtch is upbraiding us because we haven’t any!

BUBNOFF. Why – did he want to borrow some of it?

PEPEL. No – he has plenty of his own.

BUBNOFF. Oh – are you selling it? You won’t sell much around here. But if you had some old boxes, I’d buy them – on credit.

PEPEL [ didactically ] You’re a jackass, Andrushka! On the subject of conscience you ought to hear Satine – or the Baron.

KLESHTCH. I’ve nothing to talk to them about!

PEPEL. They have more brains than you – even if they’re drunkards.

BUBNOFF. He who can be drunk and wise at the same time is doubly blessed.

PEPEL. Satine says every man expects his neighbor to have a conscience, but – you see – it isn’t to any one’s advantage to have one – that’s a fact.

[Natasha enters, followed by Luka who carries a stick in his hand, a bundle on his back, a kettle and a teapot slung from his belt.]

LUKA. How are you, honest folks?

PEPEL [ twisting his mustache ] Aha – Natasha!

BUBNOFF [ to Luka ] I was honest – up to spring before last.

NATASHA. Here’s a new lodger.

LUKA. Oh, it’s all the same to me. Crooks – I don’t mind them, either. For my part there’s no bad flea – they’re all black – and they all jump – .. Well, dearie, show me where I can stow myself.

NATASHA [ pointing to kitchen door ] Go in there, grand-dad.

LUKA. Thanks, girlie! One place is like another – as long as an old fellow keeps warm, he keeps happy.

PEPEL. What an amusing old codger you brought in, Natasha!

NATASHA. A hanged sight more interesting than you!.. Andrei, your wife’s in the kitchen with us – come and fetch her after a while.

KLESHTCH. All right – I will.

NATASHA. And be a little more kind to her – you know she won’t last much longer.

KLESHTCH. I know.

NATASHA. Knowing won’t do any good – it’s terrible – dying – don’t you understand?

PEPEL. Well – look at me – I’m not afraid.

NATASHA. Oh – you’re a wonder, aren’t you?

BUBNOFF [ whistling ] Oh – this thread’s rotten.

PEPEL. Honestly, I’m not afraid! I’m ready to die right now. Knife me to the heart – and I’ll die without making a sound.. even gladly – from such a pure hand.

NATASHA [ going out ] Spin that yarn for some one else!

BUBNOFF. Oh – that thread is rotten – rotten —

NATASHA [ at hallway door ] Don’t forget your wife, Andrei!

KLESHTCH. All right.

PEPEL. She’s a wonderful girl!

BUBNOFF. She’s all right.

PEPEL. What makes her so curt with me? Anyway – she’ll come to no good here.

BUBNOFF. Through you – sure!

PEPEL. Why through me? I feel sorry for her.

BUBNOFF. As the wolf for the lamb!

PEPEL. You lie! I feel very sorry for her.. very.. very sorry! She has a tough life here – I can see that.

KLESHTCH. Just wait till Vassilisa catches you talking to her!

BUBNOFF. Vassilisa? She won’t give up so easily what belongs to her – she’s a cruel woman!

PEPEL [ stretching himself on the bunk ] You two prophets can go to hell!

KLESHTCH. Just wait – you’ll see!

LUKA [ singing in the kitchen ] “In the dark of the night the way is black.”

KLESHTCH. Another one who yelps!

PEPEL. It’s dreary! Why do I feel so dreary? You live – and everything seems all right. But suddenly a cold chill goes through you – and then everything gets dreary.

BUBNOFF. Dreary? Hm-hm —

PEPEL. Yes – yes —

LUKA [ sings ] “The way is black.”

PEPEL. Old fellow! Hey there!

LUKA [ looking from kitchen door ] You call me?

PEPEL. Yes. Don’t sing!

LUKA [ coming in ] You don’t like it?

PEPEL. When people sing well I like it —

LUKA. In other words – I don’t sing well?

PEPEL. Evidently!

LUKA. Well, well – and I thought I sang well. That’s always the way: a man imagines there’s one thing he can do well, and suddenly he finds out that other people don’t think so.

PEPEL [ laughs ] That’s right.

BUBNOFF. First you say you feel dreary – and then you laugh!

PEPEL. None of your business, raven!

LUKA. Who do they say feels dreary?

PEPEL. I do.

[The Baron enters.]

LUKA. Well, well – out there in the kitchen there’s a girl reading and crying! That’s so! Her eyes are wet with tears.. I say to her: “What’s the matter, darling?” And she says: “It’s so sad!” “What’s so sad?” say I. “The book!” says she. – And that’s how people spend their time. Just because they’re bored.

THE BARON. She’s a fool!

PEPEL. Have you had tea, Baron?

THE BARON. Yes. Go on!

PEPEL. Well – want me to open a bottle?

THE BARON. Of course. Go on!

PEPEL. Drop on all fours, and bark like a dog!

THE BARON. Fool! What’s the matter with you? Are you drunk?

PEPEL. Go on – bark a little! It’ll amuse me. You’re an aristocrat. You didn’t even consider us human formerly, did you?

THE BARON. Go on!

PEPEL. Well – and now I am making you bark like a dog – and you will bark, won’t you?

THE BARON. All right. I will. You jackass! What pleasure can you derive from it since I myself know that I have sunk almost lower than you. You should have made me drop on all fours in the days when I was still above you.

BUBNOFF. That’s right.

LUKA. I say so, too!

BUBNOFF. What’s over, is over. Remain only trivialities. We know no class distinctions here. We’ve shed all pride and self-respect. Blood and bone – man – just plain man – that’s what we are!

LUKA. In other words, we’re all equal.. and you, friend, were you really a Baron?

THE BARON. Who are you? A ghost?

LUKA [ laughing ] I’ve seen counts and princes in my day – this is the first time I meet a baron – and one who’s decaying – at that!