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stantly, he resigned himself.
‘Gentlemen of the jury, I cannot help dwelling on this
unexpected trait in the prisoner’s character. He suddenly
evinces an irresistible desire for justice, a respect for wom-
an and a recognition of her right to love. And all this at
the very moment when he had stained his hands with his
father’s blood for her sake! It is true that the blood he had
shed was already crying out for vengeance, for, after having
ruined his soul and his life in this world, he was forced to
ask himself at that same instant what he was and what he
could be now to her, to that being, dearer to him than his
own soul, in comparison with that former lover who had re-
turned penitent, with new love, to the woman he had once
betrayed, with honourable offers, with the promise of a re-
formed and happy life. And he, luckless man, what could he
give her now, what could he offer her?
‘Karamazov felt all this, knew that all ways were barred to
him by his crime and that he was a criminal under sentence,
and not a man with life before him! This thought crushed
him. And so he instantly flew to one frantic plan, which,
to a man of Karamazov’s character, must have appeared
the one inevitable way out of his terrible position. That way
out was suicide. He ran for the pistols he had left in pledge
with his friend Perhotin and on the way, as he ran, he pulled
out of his pocket the money, for the sake of which he had
stained his hands with his father’s gore. Oh, now he needed
money more than ever. Karamazov would die, Karamazov
would shoot himself and it should be remembered! To be
sure, he was a poet and had burnt the candle at both ends all

1 10 The Brothers Karamazov