Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk-Act Four Scene Nine

It is evening. The convicts are setting down for the night. The women are separated from the men. Amongst the women are Katerina and a pretty young convict called Sonyetka. Amongst the men is Sergey. All the convicts are in fetters. Sentries are posted everywhere. OLD CONVICT Verst after verst, one by one, creeps by in an endless procession, the heat of the day now is done, the sun on the steppes is now setting. Ah, road, where the chains have been dragging, where bones of the dead are still lying, where blood and sweat have been flowing, to the echoes of groans of the dying! Ah! CONVICTS Ah, road, where the chains have been dragging, where bones of the dead are still lying, where blood and sweat have been flowing, to the echoes of groans of the dying! OLD CONVICT We shall rest when the day’s work is done, but the first rays of sunrise will find us counting the versts one by one, our fetters still clanging behind us. Ah, steppes, you are so endless, days and nights so countless, the thoughts we think so cheerless and the guards we have so heartless! CONVICTS Ah, steppes, you are so endless, days and nights so countless, the thoughts we think so cheerless and the guards we have so heartless! Katerina goes up to the sentry who is separating the women from the men. KATERINA Stepanych! Let me go through, here's twenty kopecks to buy some vodka, Stepanych! SENTRY Oh, women! Women! What a lecherous lot! Oh well, all right then, go along! KATERINA Thank you! She makes her way over to Sergey. Seryozha! My dearest! She snuggles up to Sergey. Sergey maintains a sullen silence. At last! I've gone the whole day without seeing you. Seryozha! Even the pain in my legs has gone and the tiredness and the anguish... Everything's forgotten, once I'm with you, Seryozha, Seryozha! SERGEY Have you also forgotten the wrong you've done? KATERINA What wrong, Seryozha? SERGEY Whose fault is it I'm a convict, have you forgotten? KATERINA Seryozha! SERGEY Get away! KATERINA Seryozha, oh, forgive me, Seryozha. SERGEY Get out, you've ruined my life! Get out! KATERINA Oh, forgive me, forgive me, Seryozha! O God, what torment, Seryozha! SERGEY Fine sort of merchant's wife! You're just a hussy. Katerina returns to her place. KATERINA It's hard when you're used to honour and respect to stand before a judge! It's hard after endearments and caresses to feel the whip on your back. It's hard after the luxury of feather beds to have to sleep on the frozen ground. It's hard after luxury and peace to trudge for thousands of versts, it's hard, it's hard! But I've no strength to bear Sergey's betrayal, to see in his every glance his hatred of me, to sense in every word his disdain. That's what I cannot bear. Sergey makes his way towards Sonyetka and wakens her. SERGEY Greetings! SONYETKA How do you manage to get around everywhere? SERGEY I gave the sentry 25 kopecks. SONYETKA And where do you get so much money from? SERGEY From my rich merchant's wife. SONYETKA Your rich merchant's wife? Then she's a fool, that rich merchant's wife of yours! SERGEY Yes, she's a fool, for sure. SONYETKA What a fool! SERGEY Yes, what a fool! SONYETKA and SERGEY Ha, ha, ha ... SERGEY Sonyetka my darling, I want to ask you to grant me my heart's desire! SONYETKA And what is that desire? SERGEY You must know what it is! SONYETKA What a cheeky fellow you are, run off to that rich merchant's wife of yours! SERGEY I'm sick of her, I'm sick of her, I'm absolutely sick of her! SONYETKA Why did you carry on with her then? SERGEY For what I could get out of it! SONYETKA Do you think I'll give you what you want just to please you? Well, you've got it wrong! She gets up and makes as if to leave. SERGEY Wait, Sonyetka! SONYETKA Well, I can't make out what you want! Sergey embraces Sonyetka. Sonyetka resists. SERGEY I love you, I love you! I love you, love you, I love you! SONYETKA Prove it then! SERGEY What do you want me to do? Sonyetka shows Sergey her torn stockings. Sergey seizes her legs, but Sonyetka puts a stop to his advances with a slap on the cheek. SONYETKA Can you see? My stockings are torn and I'm cold. Get me some others! SERGEY Wherever from? SONYETKA From your rich merchant's wife. SERGEY Of course! All right, I'll get some! He makes his way towards Katerina. Katya! KATERINA Seryozha, so you've come? SERGEY Katya, don't be angry, forgive me. KATERINA Seryozha, Seryozha, you're all I have, you know, my love, and you ... you've hurt me cruelly, Seryozha! SERGEY Katya, forgive me, I'm in a bad way... This is the last time we'll see each other. KATERINA Why? Seryozha? SERGEY I'm going to town to the hospital, the fetters have rubbed my leg so sore, the pain's intolerable. KATERINA But you can't! What shall I do without you? They're sure to torment me even more! SERGEY They will! But I can't go on any longer, it hurts so! KATERINA Seryozha, I can't exist even a minute without you, what am I to do? I can't, I can't, Seryozha, don't leave me! SERGEY If only I could get hold of some woollen stockings from somewhere, that would certainly help! KATERINA Stockings? Why didn't you say so before, Seryozha? Here are some stockings, take them! takes off her stockings SERGEY Oh, Katya, thank you, my dearest! KATERINA gives Sergey her stockings Here, take them. SERGEY Well, I'll be back in a moment! He takes the stockings and quickly goes towards Sonyetka. KATERINA Where are you going? SERGEY I'll be back in a moment. KATERINA Seryozha, Seryozha! Why has he gone off? SERGEY to Sonyetka Here are some stockings! Come on, now you are mine! He takes Sonyetka in his arms and carries her off the stage. SONYETKA enraptured Oh, you are a brute! Katerina, noticing what is going on, rushes after Sergey, but she is restrained by the women convicts, who start mocking her. KATERINA Sergey, Sergey, what does this mean? Are the stockings for Sonyetka? Sergey! Sergey! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... WOMAN CONVICT The merchant's wife with passionate fire still is burning. But cold is now her lover's desire, to know her he has no yearning! WOMEN CONVICTS But cold is now her lover's desire, to know her he has no yearning. Ha, ha, ha! ... WOMAN CONVICT Nothing more to her is left: of her joys in freedom was she bereft! And in bondage of her bridegroom too! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... Of her joys in freedom was she bereft! And in bondage of her bridegroom too! WOMAN CONVICT Katerina Lvovna, what a mess you've made of things! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha!... WOMAN CONVICT It'll be dull for Katerina without Sergey! WOMEN CONVICTS The merchant's wife will be lost without Sergey, will be lost without Sergey. WOMAN CONVICT Give the stockings to us, give them to us! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... Give the stockings to us! KATERINA Ah! Let me go! She keeps trying to break through the women convicts. WOMAN CONVICT Not one night can she sleep alone ... It is unpleasant on her own, it is unpleasant without Sergey! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... KATERINA Ah! Ah! ALL WOMEN CONVICTS It'll be dull for Katerina without Sergey, it'll be dull for Katerina without Sergey, it'll be dull for Katerina without Sergey, without Sergey. At the noise the sentry comes running. He restores order. SENTRY Attention! Attention! What are you yelling for? WOMAN CONVICT points out to the sentry where Sonyetka and Sergey have gone There ... there ... Sergey, Sonyetka. SENTRY Shut up! I'll do you! looks and shakes his head Well! Katerina escapes from the ring of women convicts and runs on to the stage. WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... SENTRY Well I never! WOMEN CONVICTS Ha, ha, ha! ... Katerina stands motionless in an attitude of utter despair, then in horror runs to the front of the stage. She stands still in utter despair. KATERINA In the wood, right in a grove, there is a lake, almost round and very deep and the water in it is black, black like my conscience. And when the wind blows in the wood, on the lake waves rise up, huge waves and then it's frightening, in autumn there are always waves on the lake and the water's black and the waves huge. Huge, black waves. Sonyetka and Sergey come out from backstage. SERGEY Do you know, Sonyetka, who we resemble? Adam and Eve. SONYETKA But it's not all that like Paradise here! SERGEY Nonsense, we've just been in Paradise together... Sonyetka goes up to Katerina, who is sitting motionless, her eyes fixed on one spot. SONYETKA Thank you, Katerina Lvovna, thank you, Katerina Lvovna, thank you for the stockings! Look how fine they look on my legs. Seryozha put them on for me and kissed my legs to make them warm! Oh, Seryozha, my Seryozha, Katerina's a fool, she couldn't keep Sergey. Ha, what a fool! Ha, what a fool! And you won't see your stockings again. They're mine now, look! I'm warm now! An officer wakens the convicts. The beating of the drum is heard. OFFICER On your feet! Back to your places! Look lively! The convicts get up. CONVICTS Oh, we've got to get up and get moving again! The convicts line up. Katerina remains sitting motionless. An old convict goes up to her. OLD CONVICT Hey, old girl, do you hear? We're off! Otherwise they'll give us hell, do you hear? Katerina slowly goes up to Sonyetka, who is standing on the bridge by a broken parapet. She pushes Sonyetka into the river and throws herself in after her. SONYETKA Ah! CONVICTS Good heavens! Whatever's happened? OFFICER Don't move there! Watch it! I'll do you! SONYETKA from a distance Ah! Ah! OFFICER They’ve both drowned, we can't save them, the current's too strong! Attention! Back to your places! The convicts line up and march off. OLD CONVICT We trudge along day after day, clanging our fetters behind us. Wearily counting the versts, raising the dust all around us! CONVICTS Ah, steppes, you are so endless, days and nights so countless, the thoughts we think so cheerless and the guards we have so heartless. Ah … Exeunt the convicts. Their singing can be heard in the distance. The stage is now empty.