The Duel

In the immediate wake of the picnic, when Laevsky and Nadyezhda Fyodorovna are equally downcast, Laevsky finally informs Nadyezhda Fyodorovna of the death of her husband. She sinks further into grief and self-disgust, while Laevsky seeks solace at Samoylenko’s, despite the late hour of the night. Laevsky requests money for a ticket to Petersburg from Samoylenko, but Samoylenko has none to give. Samoylenko nevertheless seeks to borrow money from others on Laevsky’s behalf, feeling his protectiveness of Laevsky redouble with the memory of Von Koren’s hatred, which hovers like a threat over the defenseless Laevsky.

In his exchange with Samoylenko, Laevsky takes his turn commenting on Von Koren, calling his nature despotic and in fact correctly surmising that Von Koren has already told Samoylenko that he, Laevsky, ought to be destroyed. Laevsky astutely attributes Von Koren’s ire to his general drive toward the purification of mediocrity and the destruction of morals in favor of ideals, or what Von Koren himself would call the common good. Unlike Von Koren’s assessment of Laevsky, however, Laevsky sees the value in Von Koren’s type, even if he warns of its dangers. Laevsky ends his assessment of Von Koren with his sharpest self-criticism yet, “bowing humbly before Von Koren’s hatred” in the recognition of his own deceptiveness (136).

Marya Konstantinovna visits Nadyezhda Fyodorovna upon learning the news of Nadyezhda Fyodorovna’s husband’s death, hoping that Nadyezhda Fyodorovna and Laevsky will take the opportunity to get married. Nadyezhda Fyodorovna rejects the idea, viewing it as an unnecessary constraint on her freedom, which she feels has thus far been constrained enough. Marya Konstantinovna responds with a condemnation of Nadyezhda Fyodorovna as “a terrible sinner,” considering Laevsky blameless and calling Nadyezhda Fyodorovna immodest in her lack of (at least visible) self-condemnation. Nadyezhda Fyodorovna sobs, convinced that she must marry but viewing the prospect as impossible when she recalls her recent infidelity with Atchmianov, who she hoped would cancel her debt. She becomes feverish at the thought of repaying him and is near-delirious when Laevsky returns. Laevsky feels pity for her and asks her forgiveness, but still returns to Samoylenko’s to collect the borrowed money.

Samoylenko was unable to find an adequate amount, promising to do so by the time the next steamer departs. Samoylenko asks Von Koren for the money, who suspects it is for Laevsky and refuses to give it unless Samoylenko demands that Laevsky send Nadyezhda Fyodorovna to Petersburg before he himself departs, forestalling the possibility of his abandoning his mistress altogether. During their conversation, Samoylenko asks about the usefulness of destructive animals in a clear allusion to Von Koren’s notion of the destructiveness of Laevsky, and he does so since Von Koren is engaged in his zoological work. Von Koren responds that such animals ensure the survival of the fittest. He speaks of moles that collaborate to build a battle arena before they fight one another. When the debate over helping Laevsky arises, Von Koren expresses frustration that love for man should derive from rational calculation and not indiscriminate feeling.

At a birthday celebration at Marya Konstantinovna’s, Von Koren and Samoylenko continue their debate, with Von Koren disapproving of the unmarried couple’s lack of shame and approving of the ultimate self-destruction of the heroine of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Samoylenko lends Laevsky money and tells him of Von Koren’s condition. Laevsky is shocked and begins repeating “Friday,” the day of his desired departure, much as Nadyezhda Fyodorovna had begun repeating “at first a hundred, then another hundred,” in her own delirium. Laevsky is undone most of all by the recognition that someone else has perceived the deception that “he had so long and carefully concealed from himself” (173). He envisions the many lies he would have to tell to continue his life as he had planned: “a whole mountain of lies” (175). Although Laevsky has this recognition about himself, he feels unable to do anything else.

Meanwhile at the party, Nadyezhda Fyodorovna is suffering in shame and makes plans to run away in order to free Laevsky. She imagines finding work to send him money anonymously, but Atchmianov and Kirilin press her for further liaisons. In a parlor game, where notes are written anonymously, the men demand her attention, while Laevsky, who receives notes taunting him about his planned departure, has an attack of hysterics. Ashamed, Laevsky pretends to have felt a pain in his side and holds himself there, although “no one, except Nadyezhda Fyodorovna, believed him” (184).

When Laevsky asks Kirlin to see Nadyezhda Fyodorovna home, Nadyezhda Fyodorovna imagines herself as “a fly that had fallen into an inkpot […] smirching Laevsky’s side and arm with blackness” (186). Kirilin demands another meeting and threatens to make a scandal. Atchmianov looks for Nadyezhda Fyodorovna and, sitting on a bench, sees her walking with Kirilin. Kirilin calls after her where they should next meet, at Muridov’s—a fact Atchmianov uses to expose Nadyezhda Fyodorovna when he later tells Laevsky to go to Muridov’s at the given time.