Plays by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
LEONiD. But why do you talk like this?
NaDYA. Because you're still a boy!... Leave me!
LEONiD. But, you see, he's such a drunken, vile fellow.
NaDYA. Oh, my G.o.d! It would be better for you to go off somewhere: out of my sight.
LEONiD. Yes, really, it would be better for me to spend a week with our neighbors.
NaDYA. For G.o.d's sake, do!
LEONiD. But Nadya, if it should be awfully hard for you to live with your husband, what then?
NaDYA. [_Weeping_] Oh, leave me alone! Be good enough to leave me alone!
[_Sobbing_] I beg only one thing of you: leave me, for G.o.d's sake! [_She sobs_.
GAVRiLOVNA _and_ LiZA. [_Motioning with their hands_] Go away! Go away!
LEONiD. Why do you drive me out? I guess I'm sorry enough for her! I keep thinking somehow or other, that it may still be possible to help her in some way.
NaDYA. [_With desperation_] I don't want any helpers or defenders! I don't want them! If my patience fails, that pond of ours isn't far off!
LEONiD. [_Timidly_] Well, I'll go away if you wish.... Only what is she saying? You folks, look after her, please! Good-by! [_He goes to the door_.
NaDYA. [_After him in a loud voice_] Good-by!
LEONiD _goes out_.
LiZA. And so the old proverb is true: What's fun for the cat is tears for the mouse.
POVERTY IS NO CRIME
A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS
CHARACTERS
GORDeY KaRPYCH TORTSoV, _a rich merchant_.
PELAGeYA EGoROVNA, _his wife_.
LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA, _his daughter_.
LYUBiM KaRPYCH TORTSoV, _his brother, a man who has squandered his property_.
AFRIKaN SaVVICH KoRSHUNOV[1], _a manufacturer_.
[Footnote 1: Vulture]
MiTYA, TORTSoV'S _clerk_.
YaSHA GuSLIN, _nephew of_ TORTSoV.
GRiSHA RAZLYULYaYEV, _a young merchant, the son of a rich father_.
ANNA IVaNOVNA, _a young widow_.
MaSHA } } _friends of_ LYUBoV TORTSoV.
LiZA }
EGoRUSHKA, _a boy, distant relative of_ TORTSoV.
ARiNA, _nurse of_ LYUBoV GORDeYEVNA.
GUESTS, SERVANTS, MUMMERS, AND OTHERS.
_The action takes place in a district town in the house of the merchant TORTSoV during the Christmas holidays_.
POVERTY IS NO CRIME
ACT I
_A small office room; in the rear wall a door; in the corner on the left a bed, on the right a cupboard. In the left wall a window, and beside the window a table. Near the table a chair; near the right wall a desk and a wooden stool. Beside the bed a guitar; on the table and desk are books and papers_.
SCENE I
MiTYA _is walking back and forth in the room_. EGoRUSHKA _is seated on the stool reading_ "Bova Korolevich."
EGoRUSHKA. [_Reads_] "My sovereign father, glorious and brave king, Kiribit Verzoulovich, I do not possess the courage to marry him now. Because when I was young I was wooed by King Gvidon."
MiTYA. Well, Egorushka, is any one at home?
EGoRUSHKA. [_Putting his finger on the place where he is reading in order not to make a mistake_] n.o.body; they've all gone driving. There's only Gordey Karpych at home. [_Reads_] "Whereupon Kiribit Verzoulovich said to his daughter"--[_Again marking the place_]--only he's in such a rage, it's awful! I cleared out--he keeps on cursing. [_Reads_] "Then the beautiful Militrisa Kirbityevna called her servant Licharda to her."
MiTYA. With whom was he angry?