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Ivanov: No, my clever young thing, it’s not a question of romance. I say as before God that I will endure everything – depression and mental illness and ruin and the loss of my wife and premature old age and loneliness – but I cannot tolerate, cannot endure being ridiculous in my own eyes. I’m dying of shame at the thought that I, a healthy, strong man, have turned into some sort of Hamlet or Manfred, some sort of ‘superfluous man’… devil knows precisely what! There are pitiful people who are flattered by being called Hamlet or superfluous men, but for me it’s a disgrace! It stirs up my pride, I’m overcome by shame and I suffer…
