Resurrection · Chapter
VII explained
The jurymen assemble and are called to order by the usher, then proceed to the courtroom.
What happens
The jurymen assemble and are called to order by the usher, then proceed to the courtroom. The court is described in detail, including the raised platform, portraits, and seating arrangements. The judges enter: the president, the gloomy member, and Matthew Nikítich, who is preoccupied with a superstitious guess about his health. The public prosecutor and secretary also take their places, each absorbed in their own preparations.
Themes in this chapter
Injustice of the Legal System
The judges' personal preoccupations (the gloomy member's annoyance about dinner, Matthew Nikítich's superstition) contrast with the solemnity of the court, hinting at the system's flaws.
Characters to notice
- Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff
Present as a juryman; responds to his name being called by the usher.
- The Judges
The president, the gloomy member, and Matthew Nikítich enter the courtroom and take their seats on the platform.
Key passages
“The usher, a thin man, with a long neck and a kind of sideways walk, his nether lip protruding to one side, which made him resemble a turkey”
The usher, thin and with a peculiar gait, had a protruding lower lip that gave him a turkey-like appearance.
Describes the usher's distinctive physical traits.
“He made twenty-six steps, but managed to get in a twenty-seventh just by his chair.”
He took twenty-six steps but added a twenty-seventh just as he reached his chair.
Matthew Nikítich's superstitious act to ensure his treatment would work.