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Dostoyevsky Delight: "The Meek One"

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Gopa B. Caesar:
The narrator and his wife return home. They retire for the night separately. In the morning, the narrator opens his eyes to see that his wife is standing over him with the revolver pointed at his temple. He simply closes his eyes again, and he is convinced that he conquered her with his readiness to accept death. She does not shoot, and the narrator buys her a separate bed that day. That same day, she also contracts tuberculosis.

Gopa B. Caesar:
The narrator spares no expense for his wife's medical care, and she slowly recovers. Throughout the entire winter the narrator watches his wife furtively, and a watershed moment happens when she begins to sing in his presence. The narrator kisses his wife's feet and promises to be a changed man. He recounts the story of his shame in the regiment, and he promises to take her to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Several days later, the narrator leaves the house to make arrangements for passports.

Gopa B. Caesar:
When the narrator returns home, he is met with a crowd of people outside his house. His wife had committed suicide: she had jumped out of the window while holding an icon. The narrator is convinced that he was only five minutes too late, even though it was ultimately his narcissistic love that drove his gentle wife to suicide.

Gopa B. Caesar:
The characterization of the narrator has been compared to the underground man of Notes from Underground, and of the pawnbrokers in Crime and Punishment and The Idiot that seek to empower themselves through the accumulation of wealth. The characterization of the narrator and his wife's suicide are meant as a criticism of what Dostoyevsky refers to as kosnost or spiritual stagnation that results from material pursuits.

Gopa B. Caesar:
Dostoyevsky has always been a happy banquet for the film-makers; "The Meek One" is no exception.

In 1962, а film adaptaion was made by Alexander Borisov; in 1969, another adaptation was made by Robert Bresson; in 1995, by Mariusz Treliński as Łagodna; in 1989, Mani Kaul made this short story into his film Nazar and finally, in 1998, Raphael Nadjari did a modern adaptation set in present day New York, The Shade.

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