Leo Tolstoy’s "Resurrection," a summary

This book is a harsh indictment of the judicial, penal, and social systems of the Russian Empire in 1899, built around the story of a repentant aristocrat’s spiritual awakening. The narrative directly addresses the unbridgeable gap between the privileged classes and the common people, demonstrating in detail and without embellishment the cruelty of state institutions toward ordinary people. The work has been adapted for film multiple times in various countries, receiving high praise for its cinematic storytelling. The most famous film versions were made in the Soviet Union, Italy, Germany, and the United States, attracting packed theaters thanks to its sensitive social issues.

The trial and the fatal mistake

One spring morning, prisoner Ekaterina Maslova is led from the provincial prison to the district court. She is accused of involvement in the poisoning of the Siberian merchant Smelkov. The judges, prosecutor, and jurors are assembled in the courtroom. Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Nekhlyudov is among the jurors. Hearing the defendant’s name and looking at her face, he is horrified to recognize her as the girl he seduced and abandoned ten years ago.

Katyusha Maslova was the daughter of a house servant. The girl was taken in by elderly landowners — Neklyudov’s aunts. Young Dmitry fell in love with her with a pure, bright love while working on a student essay. Years later, having become a guards officer and adopted the selfish habits of his circle, he moved to the estate. The night before leaving for war, he seduced Katyusha, and the next morning, he gave her a hundred-ruble note and left. The girl became pregnant, lost her job, and after a difficult journey and the death of her baby, ended up in a brothel.

At the trial, it was revealed that the merchant Smelkov had sent Maslova to retrieve money from his suitcase. Later, the bellhops, Kartinkin and Bochkova, handed the girl a powder, instructing her to slip it into the merchant’s drowsiness. The powder turned out to be poison. Maslova denies intent to rob and murder, claiming she thought the powder was a sleeping pill. The jury found Maslova guilty of administering the powder, but due to the foreman’s oversight, they forgot to add the phrase "without intent to kill." Because of this omission, the court sentenced the innocent woman to four years of hard labor.

Nekhlyudov is shocked by this absurd mistake. He realizes his direct responsibility for the girl’s downfall and makes a firm decision to change his fate, hire the best lawyer, help Maslova, and even marry her.

Attempts at redemption and prison visits

Nekhlyudov visits the overcrowded provincial prison. The conditions in the visiting room appall him: people scream through double wire mesh, choking on the stench. The prince informs Maslova of his intentions to make amends and marry her. Katyusha greets his words with hostile contempt. She cynically asks him for ten rubles, flatly refuses marriage, and declares that he simply wants to save his soul at her expense. Nekhlyudov sees a bitter woman before him, but he stands firm in his resolve.

Preparing for his journey to Siberia following the condemned woman, Nekhlyudov travels to his family estates — Kuzminskoye and Panovo. Inspired by the ideas of Henry George, he decides to hand over his lands to the peasants. The prince offers the peasants the opportunity to rent the arable land at a minimal price, with the rent going toward their own public capital. The peasants, including a distrustful, toothless old man, are suspicious of the offer, expecting a scam, but the prince sees it through, delighted to be freed from the burden of property. In the villages, he observes the appalling poverty of the people, the high infant mortality rate, and the backbreaking labor. It becomes clear to him that the root of these miseries lies in the land confiscated from the peasants.

Capital Troubles

Nekhlyudov travels to St. Petersburg to support his appeal in the Senate. In the capital, he stays with his aunt, Countess Katerina Ivanovna Charskaya, and once again immerses himself in aristocratic circles. His interactions with high-ranking officials, senators, and society ladies leave him feeling deeply repulsed. Senator Wolf, Chief Prosecutor Selenin, and official Toporov decide the prisoners’ fates between dinner parties. The Senate, nitpicking procedural technicalities, upholds Maslova’s sentence.

Besides Katyusha’s case, the prince intercedes on behalf of other unjustly convicted individuals. He pleads for Lydia Shustova, wrongfully imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and seeks to have the exile of sectarians lifted. The success of these cases depends solely on personal connections, highlighting the arbitrary nature of the state system. The influential Mariette helps secure Shustova’s release simply out of a desire to please Nekhlyudov. The prince’s lawyer drafts a petition for Maslova’s pardon addressed to the emperor, and Nekhlyudov returns to Moscow.

Stage and new satellites

A convict party sets out for Siberia, and Nekhlyudov follows them. During the scorching heat, on the way to the train station, several prisoners die of sunstroke right on the pavement. The prince’s attempts to appeal to the humanity of the escort officers are dashed by their official instructions. The prison system mechanically destroys people, and no one bears personal responsibility for it.

On the way, Nekhlyudov manages to transfer Maslova to a department for political exiles. The girl begins to transform. She is greatly influenced by the revolutionary Marya Pavlovna Shchetinina, a woman of general’s origins who dedicated her life to serving the oppressed.

Among the political figures, Vladimir Simonson stands out. He is a man of strong convictions, considering himself a "global phagocyte" whose mission is to help the sick parts of society. He falls platonically in love with Maslova. Katyusha reciprocates his deep affection, striving to become a better person and justify his high opinion of her.

Siberia and Spiritual Epiphany

During his long journey, Nekhlyudov becomes close to political exiles. He learns the story of Anatoly Kryltsov, a consumptive who became a revolutionary after witnessing the execution of two innocent youths. The prince interacts with the tireless Nabatov, the harsh Kondratyev, and the arrogant revolutionary leader Novodvorov. Nekhlyudov understands their motives and realizes the futility of the brutal state machine.

During one of the river crossings, the prince meets a wandering shaggy old man who refuses to recognize any laws or authorities, calling officials servants of the Antichrist, and believes only in his own spirit.

Simonson informs Nekhlyudov of his intention to marry Maslova. Nekhlyudov meets with Katyusha. She firmly refuses the prince. She does so out of deep love: Maslova does not want to ruin his life and ties her fate to Simonson.

At the same time, an official document arrives from St. Petersburg: Maslova’s hard labor has been commuted to exile. Nekhlyudov breaks the news to her during a visit to a Siberian prison, accompanied by an English missionary distributing Gospels to the prisoners. Katyusha takes the news calmly, her decision to stay with Simonson unchanged. Nekhlyudov bids her farewell, knowing his duty has been fulfilled. In the prison morgue, he sees the calm and beautiful face of Kryltsov, who has died of consumption.

Alone in his hotel room, Nekhlyudov reflects on the hundreds of thousands of people passing through prisons and transit camps. He comes to the conclusion that trials don’t reform criminals, but only cripple them and breed new vices. Tired of his tormenting thoughts, the prince opens the Gospel. In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, he finds Christ’s simple and clear commandments: do not become angry, do not commit adultery, do not swear, do not resist evil with violence, and love your enemies.

Nekhlyudov sees constant forgiveness and adherence to these truths as the only means of saving people from evil. From that night on, a completely new life begins for the prince, filled with clear meaning and faith in goodness.