The Light Shines in Darkness   By: Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to the original text are listed at the end of this file. ]

THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS

DRAMA

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