Resurrection · Chapter
XXXVII explained
Máslova lies awake, thinking about avoiding marriage to a convict and instead using her wiles on prison officials.
What happens
Máslova lies awake, thinking about avoiding marriage to a convict and instead using her wiles on prison officials. She recalls her past love for Nekhlúdoff and the night she ran to the station to see him, only to be ignored. That night, feeling the child within her, she decided against suicide and began to lose faith in God and goodness, believing everyone lives only for pleasure.
Themes in this chapter
Sexual Exploitation and Women's Position
Máslova's memory of being seduced and abandoned by Nekhlúdoff, and her subsequent life of prostitution, highlight the exploitation of women.
Hypocrisy of Religion and Morality
Máslova's loss of faith after the night at the station, concluding that talk of God and righteousness is deception.
Social Class and Inequality
The contrast between Nekhlúdoff's comfortable life in a first-class carriage and Máslova's desperate run in the mud and rain underscores class divisions.
Characters to notice
- Katerina Maslova
Lies awake planning to avoid convict marriage; recalls the traumatic night at the railway station and her loss of faith.
- Prince Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhludoff
Appears in Máslova's memory as the man who seduced and abandoned her; seen laughing in a first-class carriage.
- The Judges
Mentioned in Máslova's thoughts as men who looked at her in court.
- Fanarin
The advocate who looked at her in court, recalled by Máslova.
- Carolina Albertovna Kitaeva
Mentioned as the madam of the brothel where Máslova worked and where a student loved her.
Key passages
“She never brought back to mind the days of her childhood and youth, and her love to Nekhlúdoff. That would have been too painful.”
She deliberately avoided memories of her early life and her love for Nekhlúdoff because they were too painful.
Shows Máslova's psychological defense mechanism.
“Beginning from that dreadful night, she ceased believing in God and in goodness.”
After that terrible night, she stopped believing in God and the goodness of people.
Key moment of spiritual crisis and loss of faith.
“He whom she loved, and who had loved her—yes, she knew that—had thrown her away; had abused her love. Yet he was the best of all the people she knew. All the rest were still worse.”
The man she loved and who loved her had abandoned and betrayed her, yet he was still the best person she had known; everyone else was even worse.
Illustrates her deep disillusionment with humanity.