A woman is heard screaming at a table behind. The manager and a

policeman come in and take her out. Fédya and Petushkóv listen, and

look on in silence. When all is quiet again,

PETUSHKÓV. Yes, your life is astonishing.

FÉDYA. No, it's most simple! You know, in the society in which I was

born there are only three careers open to a man--only three. The first

is to enter the civil or military service, to earn money and increase

the abominations amid which we live. That was repulsive to me. Perhaps I

had not the capacity for it; but above all it repelled me. Then the

second is to destroy those abominations. To do that you must be a hero;

and I am not a hero. And the third is to forget it all by going on the

spree, drinking and singing. That is what I did. And this is what my

singing has brought me to! [Drinks].

PETUSHKÓV. And what about family life? I should be happy if I had a

wife. My wife ruined me.

FÉDYA. Family life? Yes, my wife was an ideal woman. She is still

living. But how shall I tell you? There was no yeast in it--you know,

the yeast that makes the beer froth! Well, there was nothing of that in

our life: it was flat, and I wanted something to help me to forget--and

one can't forget when there's no sparkle in life. Then I began to do all

sorts of nasty things. And you know, we love people for the good we do

them, and dislike them for the harm we do them; and I did her much harm.

The Live Corpse