Resurrection · Chapter
Chapter XV explained
Nekhlúdoff recalls a vivid Easter morning memory from his youth, when he attended early mass at his aunts' estate and experienced a profound, pure love for Katúsha.
What happens
Nekhlúdoff recalls a vivid Easter morning memory from his youth, when he attended early mass at his aunts' estate and experienced a profound, pure love for Katúsha. The chapter contrasts the innocent, spiritual connection they shared with the corruption that later occurred, as Nekhlúdoff reflects on this moment while sitting in the jurymen's room.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
The chapter depicts the zenith of innocent, selfless love between Nekhlúdoff and Katúsha, a love that extends to all humanity, as seen in Katúsha kissing a beggar.
Moral Awakening and Redemption
Nekhlúdoff's memory of this pure moment serves as a contrast to his later actions, highlighting his moral decline and the potential for redemption.
Characters to notice
- Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff
Recalls the Easter mass and his pure love for Katúsha, reflecting on how everything changed after that night.
- Katerina Maslova
Appears as the young Katúsha in the memory, dressed in white with a blue sash and red bow, radiating joy and chaste love.
- Matrona Pavlovna
Accompanies Katúsha at the church, dressed in lilac, and exchanges Easter greetings with Nekhlúdoff.
Key passages
“All—all that was good in the world was for her. And it seemed to him that Katúsha was aware that it was all for her when he looked at her well-shaped figure, the tucked white dress, the wrapt, joyous expression of her face, by which he knew that just exactly the same that was singing in his own soul was also singing in hers.”
Nekhlúdoff felt that everything beautiful in the world existed solely for Katúsha, and her joyful expression confirmed that she felt the same spiritual harmony within herself.
Highlights the idealized, transcendent love Nekhlúdoff felt for Katúsha during the Easter service.
“In the love between a man and a woman there always comes a moment when this love has reached its zenith—a moment when it is unconscious, unreasoning, and with nothing sensual about it. Such a moment had come for Nekhlúdoff on that Easter eve.”
There is a peak in romantic love that is pure and without physical desire, and Nekhlúdoff experienced this on Easter eve.
Emphasizes the chaste, spiritual nature of Nekhlúdoff's feelings at that time.