Summary
Princess Mary sits alone in her room at night, haunted by memories of her father's final days. The sounds of peasant voices drift from the village below, but her mind is consumed by a deeper ache—the conversations she never had with her dying father. She remembers the night before his last stroke, when she stood outside his door listening to him talk to his servant Tikhon about old memories. Her father had asked for her twice, but she hadn't entered. Now she tortures herself with what-ifs: What if she had gone in? What if she had been the one to comfort him instead of the servant who didn't understand? The only word of tenderness he ever spoke to her—'Dearest'—came on his deathbed, and now she clings to it desperately. As moonlight fills her room, grief transforms into something more terrifying. She begins to see her father's dead face in the shadows, remembering the horrible moment when she touched his corpse and realized it wasn't really him anymore. The silence of the house becomes suffocating, and panic overtakes her. She screams for her maid Dunyasha and runs toward the servants' quarters, desperate to escape the crushing weight of her solitude. Tolstoy captures how grief isn't just sadness—it's regret, fear, and the terrible realization that some conversations can never happen once someone is gone.
Coming Up in Chapter 203
Princess Mary's midnight crisis draws her household into action. The servants who come running toward her screams will witness her raw grief, but their response may offer the human connection she desperately needs to survive this darkest hour.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
For a long time that night Princess Mary sat by the open window of her room hearing the sound of the peasants’ voices that reached her from the village, but it was not of them she was thinking. She felt that she could not understand them however much she might think about them. She thought only of one thing, her sorrow, which, after the break caused by cares for the present, seemed already to belong to the past. Now she could remember it and weep or pray. After sunset the wind had dropped. The night was calm and fresh. Toward midnight the voices began to subside, a cock crowed, the full moon began to show from behind the lime trees, a fresh white dewy mist began to rise, and stillness reigned over the village and the house. Pictures of the near past—her father’s illness and last moments—rose one after another to her memory. With mournful pleasure she now lingered over these images, repelling with horror only the last one, the picture of his death, which she felt she could not contemplate even in imagination at this still and mystic hour of night. And these pictures presented themselves to her so clearly and in such detail that they seemed now present, now past, and now future. She vividly recalled the moment when he had his first stroke and was being dragged along by his armpits through the garden at Bald Hills, muttering something with his helpless tongue, twitching his gray eyebrows and looking uneasily and timidly at her. “Even then he wanted to tell me what he told me the day he died,” she thought. “He had always thought what he said then.” And she recalled in all its detail the night at Bald Hills before he had the last stroke, when with a foreboding of disaster she had remained at home against his will. She had not slept and had stolen downstairs on tiptoe, and going to the door of the conservatory where he slept that night had listened at the door. In a suffering and weary voice he was saying something to Tíkhon, speaking of the Crimea and its warm nights and of the Empress. Evidently he had wanted to talk. “And why didn’t he call me? Why didn’t he let me be there instead of Tíkhon?” Princess Mary had thought and thought again now. “Now he will never tell anyone what he had in his soul. Never will that moment return for him or for me when he might have said all he longed to say, and not Tíkhon but I might have heard and understood him. Why didn’t I enter the room?” she thought. “Perhaps he would then have said to me what he said the day he died. While talking to Tíkhon he asked about me twice. He wanted to see me, and I was standing close by, outside the door. It was sad and painful for him to talk to Tíkhon who did not understand...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Unfinished Business
We delay difficult but important conversations until circumstances make them impossible, creating permanent regret from temporary discomfort.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when self-protection becomes self-sabotage in relationships.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you postpone important conversations because the timing isn't 'perfect'—then schedule one anyway.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Deathbed regret
The crushing realization that you missed your chance to say important things to someone before they died. It's not just sadness - it's the specific torture of 'what if I had spoken up?'
Modern Usage:
Anyone who's lost a parent knows this feeling - wishing they'd had one more real conversation before it was too late.
Vigil
Staying awake through the night, usually to watch over someone sick or to grieve. In Russian culture, this was both duty and devotion - you didn't leave the dying alone.
Modern Usage:
We still do this in hospitals and hospices, sitting with loved ones through their final hours.
Peasant village life
In 1800s Russia, serfs lived in villages on noble estates, working the land. Their voices drifting up to the manor house shows the social distance between classes.
Modern Usage:
Like hearing your neighbors through apartment walls - close physically but worlds apart in experience.
Midnight hour mysticism
The belief that late night hours make us more vulnerable to spiritual experiences or psychological breakdown. Grief hits differently in the dark silence.
Modern Usage:
Anyone who's had a panic attack at 3 AM knows how the night amplifies our fears and regrets.
Aristocratic isolation
How wealthy people often lived separated from others, even their own servants. Princess Mary's loneliness shows the emotional cost of social privilege.
Modern Usage:
Like being the boss who has no one to really talk to, or the wealthy person who wonders if anyone likes them for who they are.
Filial duty
The obligation children feel to care for and honor their parents, especially in traditional societies. Mary's guilt comes from feeling she failed in this sacred duty.
Modern Usage:
The guilt adult children feel when they can't be there enough for aging parents, or when they argue instead of being patient.
Characters in This Chapter
Princess Mary
Grieving daughter protagonist
She's tormented by memories of her father's death and the conversations they never had. Her grief transforms into panic as she realizes how alone she truly is.
Modern Equivalent:
The adult child who beat themselves up for not being a better daughter while their parent was alive
Prince Bolkonsky (her father)
Deceased father (in memories)
Even in death, he dominates Mary's thoughts. She remembers both his harshness and the single moment of tenderness he showed her before dying.
Modern Equivalent:
The difficult parent whose approval you craved but never quite got
Tikhon
Loyal servant
The old servant who comforted Prince Bolkonsky in his final moments, making Mary jealous that a servant got the intimacy she never had with her father.
Modern Equivalent:
The home health aide who becomes closer to your parent than you are
Dunyasha
Mary's personal maid
Mary calls for her when panic overtakes her in the night, showing how even aristocrats need human comfort in their darkest moments.
Modern Equivalent:
The friend you call at 2 AM when you're having a breakdown
Key Quotes & Analysis
"She felt that she could not understand them however much she might think about them."
Context: Mary hears peasant voices but realizes she's too consumed by grief to think about anyone else
Shows how grief makes us self-absorbed, cutting us off from the world around us. Even someone trying to be thoughtful about others can't break through their own pain.
In Today's Words:
I know other people have problems too, but right now I can't think about anything except my own pain.
"What if she had been the one to comfort him instead of the servant who didn't understand?"
Context: Mary tortures herself remembering how Tikhon, not she, was with her father in his final conscious moments
Captures the specific torture of deathbed regret - not just that someone died, but that you weren't the one they turned to for comfort.
In Today's Words:
Why was some stranger closer to my dad than I was when he needed someone most?
"The only word of tenderness he ever spoke to her—'Dearest'—came on his deathbed."
Context: Mary clings to the single moment of paternal affection she ever received
Shows how people can survive on crumbs of love from difficult parents, and how death makes those small moments feel both precious and tragically insufficient.
In Today's Words:
The one time my dad actually said something nice to me was when he was dying.
"She screams for her maid Dunyasha and runs toward the servants' quarters, desperate to escape the crushing weight of her solitude."
Context: Mary's grief transforms into panic and she flees to find human contact
Even aristocrats need other people when they're falling apart. Grief can become so overwhelming that we'll run to anyone just to not be alone with our thoughts.
In Today's Words:
I don't care who it is, I just need someone here with me right now.
Thematic Threads
Regret
In This Chapter
Mary tortures herself with 'what if' scenarios about conversations she could have had with her dying father
Development
Introduced here as the crushing weight of missed opportunities
In Your Life:
You might feel this when avoiding difficult conversations with aging parents or estranged family members.
Death
In This Chapter
Mary confronts the horror of her father's corpse and realizes the person she knew is truly gone forever
Development
Evolved from abstract concept to visceral reality that changes everything
In Your Life:
You might experience this shock when death makes a relationship's problems permanently unsolvable.
Isolation
In This Chapter
Mary's grief becomes so overwhelming she cannot bear to be alone with her thoughts
Development
Deepened from social awkwardness to crushing psychological solitude
In Your Life:
You might feel this when major loss leaves you unable to connect with others who haven't experienced similar pain.
Class
In This Chapter
Mary envies how the servant Tikhon could comfort her father in ways she, as his daughter, never could
Development
Evolved to show how social roles can prevent authentic human connection
In Your Life:
You might see this when professional boundaries or family expectations prevent you from saying what someone needs to hear.
Memory
In This Chapter
Mary clings desperately to the single word 'Dearest' her father spoke to her on his deathbed
Development
Transformed from painful recollections to precious fragments of love
In Your Life:
You might experience this when one small gesture becomes disproportionately important after someone dies.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What specific regret is torturing Princess Mary as she sits alone in her room?
analysis • surface - 2
Why did Mary avoid going into her father's room when he asked for her, and how does this avoidance now haunt her?
analysis • medium - 3
Think about your own relationships - where do you see this pattern of postponing difficult but important conversations?
application • medium - 4
If you were Mary's friend, what practical advice would you give her about handling this crushing regret?
application • deep - 5
What does Mary's experience reveal about why we avoid emotional conversations, and what it costs us when we wait too long?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Create Your Difficult Conversation List
Make a list of three important conversations you've been postponing in your own life. For each one, write down what you're afraid will happen if you have the conversation, and what might happen if you don't. Then rank them by urgency - who is oldest, sickest, or most likely to be unavailable soon?
Consider:
- •Consider both personal and professional relationships that need attention
- •Think about conversations you're avoiding because they feel uncomfortable, not because they're actually dangerous
- •Remember that imperfect timing with honest words beats perfect timing that never comes
Journaling Prompt
Write about a conversation you wish you'd had with someone who is no longer available to you. What would you say now if you could? How can this inform the conversations you still have time to have?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 203: When Duty Meets Distress
What lies ahead teaches us to recognize when someone needs help without being asked, and shows us the power of respectful boundaries in crisis situations. These patterns appear in literature and life alike.