The Kreutzer Sonata Page #11

"The Kreutzer Sonata" is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1889. The story revolves around a man named Pozdnyshev, who recounts his tumultuous marriage and the deep-seated jealousy that led him to commit a tragic act of violence against his wife. Catalyzed by his obsession with her perceived infidelity, Pozdnyshev’s narrative explores themes of love, passion, and the complexities of human relationships, while also critiquing societal norms surrounding marriage and sexuality. The title refers to Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, which serves as a poignant backdrop to the emotional and psychological turmoil experienced by the protagonist. The novella challenges conventional views on love and the institution of marriage, making it a thought-provoking work that resonates with contemporary issues.

								

perhaps, that that applies only to young girls who are badly brought
up, but that there is another education, an education that is serious,
in the schools, an education in the dead languages, an education in the
institutions of midwifery, an education in medical courses, and in
other courses. It is false.

“Every sort of feminine education has for its sole object the
attraction of men.

“Some attract by music or curly hair, others by science or by civic
virtue. The object is the same, and cannot be otherwise (since no other
object exists),—to seduce man in order to possess him. Imagine courses
of instruction for women and feminine science without men,—that is,
learned women, and men not knowing them as learned. Oh, no! No
education, no instruction can change woman as long as her highest ideal
shall be marriage and not virginity, freedom from sensuality. Until
that time she will remain a serf. One need only imagine, forgetting the
universality of the case, the conditions in which our young girls are
brought up, to avoid astonishment at the debauchery of the women of our
upper classes. It is the opposite that would cause astonishment.

“Follow my reasoning. From infancy garments, ornaments, cleanliness,
grace, dances, music, reading of poetry, novels, singing, the theatre,
the concert, for use within and without, according as women listen, or
practice themselves. With that, complete physical idleness, an
excessive care of the body, a vast consumption of sweetmeats; and God
knows how the poor maidens suffer from their own sensuality, excited by
all these things. Nine out of ten are tortured intolerably during the
first period of maturity, and afterward provided they do not marry at
the age of twenty. That is what we are unwilling to see, but those who
have eyes see it all the same. And even the majority of these
unfortunate creatures are so excited by a hidden sensuality (and it is
lucky if it is hidden) that they are fit for nothing. They become
animated only in the presence of men. Their whole life is spent in
preparations for coquetry, or in coquetry itself. In the presence of
men they become too animated; they begin to live by sensual energy. But
the moment the man goes away, the life stops.

“And that, not in the presence of a certain man, but in the presence of
any man, provided he is not utterly hideous. You will say that this is
an exception. No, it is a rule. Only in some it is made very evident,
in others less so. But no one lives by her own life; they are all
dependent upon man. They cannot be otherwise, since to them the
attraction of the greatest number of men is the ideal of life (young
girls and married women), and it is for this reason that they have no
feeling stronger than that of the animal need of every female who tries
to attract the largest number of males in order to increase the
opportunities for choice. So it is in the life of young girls, and so
it continues during marriage. In the life of young girls it is
necessary in order to selection, and in marriage it is necessary in
order to rule the husband. Only one thing suppresses or interrupts
these tendencies for a time,—namely, children,—and then only when the
woman is not a monster,—that is, when she nurses her own children. Here
again the doctor interferes.

“With my wife, who desired to nurse her own children, and who did nurse
six of them, it happened that the first child was sickly. The doctors,
who cynically undressed her and felt of her everywhere, and whom I had
to thank and pay for these acts,—these dear doctors decided that she
ought not to nurse her child, and she was temporarily deprived of the
only remedy for coquetry. A nurse finished the nursing of this
first-born,—that is to say, we profited by the poverty and ignorance of
a woman to steal her from her own little one in favor of ours, and for
that purpose we dressed her in a kakoschnik trimmed with gold lace.
Nevertheless, that is not the question; but there was again awakened in
my wife that coquetry which had been sleeping during the nursing
period. Thanks to that, she reawakened in me the torments of jealousy
which I had formerly known, though in a much slighter degree.”

CHAPTER XV.

“Yes, jealousy, that is another of the secrets of marriage known to all
and concealed by all. Besides the general cause of the mutual hatred of
husbands and wives resulting from complicity in the pollution of a
human being, and also from other causes, the inexhaustible source of
marital wounds is jealousy. But by tacit consent it is determined to
conceal them from all, and we conceal them. Knowing them, each one
supposes in himself that it is an unfortunate peculiarity, and not a
common destiny. So it was with me, and it had to be so. There cannot
fail to be jealousy between husbands and wives who live immorally. If
they cannot sacrifice their pleasures for the welfare of their child,
they conclude therefrom, and truly, that they will not sacrifice their
pleasures for, I will not say happiness and tranquillity (since one may
sin in secret), but even for the sake of conscience. Each one knows
very well that neither admits any high moral reasons for not betraying
the other, since in their mutual relations they fail in the
requirements of morality, and from that time distrust and watch each
other.

“Oh, what a frightful feeling of jealousy! I do not speak of that real
jealousy which has foundations (it is tormenting, but it promises an
issue), but of that unconscious jealousy which inevitably accompanies
every immoral marriage, and which, having no cause, has no end. This
jealousy is frightful. Frightful, that is the word.

“And this is it. A young man speaks to my wife. He looks at her with a
smile, and, as it seems to me, he surveys her body. How does he dare to
think of her, to think of the possibility of a romance with her? And
how can she, seeing this, tolerate him? Not only does she tolerate him,
but she seems pleased. I even see that she puts herself to trouble on
his account. And in my soul there rises such a hatred for her that each
of her words, each gesture, disgusts me. She notices it, she knows not
what to do, and how assume an air of indifferent animation? Ah! I
suffer! That makes her gay, she is content. And my hatred increases
tenfold, but I do not dare to give it free force, because at the bottom
of my soul I know that there are no real reasons for it, and I remain
in my seat, feigning indifference, and exaggerating my attention and
courtesy to him.

“Then I get angry with myself. I desire to leave the room, to leave
them alone, and I do, in fact, go out; but scarcely am I outside when I
am invaded by a fear of what is taking place within my absence. I go in
again, inventing some pretext. Or sometimes I do not go in; I remain
near the door, and listen. How can she humiliate herself and humiliate
me by placing me in this cowardly situation of suspicion and espionage?
Oh, abomination! Oh, the wicked animal! And he too, what does he think
								Rate this book:0.0 / 0 votes