What Is to Be Done? · Chapter
II explained
In a fashionable restaurant, Storeshnikof dines with his friends, including the Frenchwoman Julie and the officer Serge.
What happens
In a fashionable restaurant, Storeshnikof dines with his friends, including the Frenchwoman Julie and the officer Serge. Julie, learning of Storeshnikof's boastful claims about Vera, angrily denounces him and the others as contemptible. She reveals her own past suffering and resolves to warn Vera. The chapter also shows Marya Alekséyevna's ignorance of these events as she fumes at home.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Bourgeois Society
Julie's outburst condemns the hypocrisy and moral corruption of the aristocratic men who treat women as objects to be bought and sold.
Freedom and Individuality
Julie asserts her French identity as free and struggling, contrasting with Serge's passive acceptance of societal constraints.
Characters to notice
- Mademoiselle Julie
Julie passionately defends Vera's honor, denounces Storeshnikof's lies, and resolves to warn Vera despite Serge's cynical advice.
- Mikhaïl Ivanuitch Storeshnikof
Storeshnikof boasts about Vera being his mistress, is challenged by Jean, and is enraged when Julie exposes his lies.
- Serge
Serge remains phlegmatic and cynical, advising Julie that saving Vera is impossible and accepting the Russian principle of not fighting fate.
- Marya Alekséyevna
Marya Alekséyevna is unaware of the restaurant scene; she is at home, angry with Vera and snoring after drinking rum punch.
Key passages
“You contemptible, miserable men! Two years I lived as a bad woman in a house with prostitutes and thieves, and never once did I meet three such low people as you are!”
Julie calls the men worse than the criminals she lived among, highlighting their moral depravity.
Julie's speech underscores the theme of critique of bourgeois society.
“Marriage? the bridle? conventionality? Never! I have forbidden you to mention such absurdities.”
Julie rejects Serge's marriage proposal as a form of oppressive convention.
Reflects Julie's commitment to personal freedom and individuality.