Chichikov and the Governor (Prince)

The relationship between Chichikov and the Governor (Prince) is a fraught encounter between public authority and a defendant whose apparent reprieve does not amount to moral or legal vindication. The Prince regards Chichikov as implicated in the fraudulent-will affair and condemns both the alleged fraud and the officials drawn into it. Yet, after hearing Murazov’s case for restraint, he agrees to pardon Chichikov on the condition that he leave town immediately. The outcome is release without reconciliation: the Prince exercises power over Chichikov, but the evidence supplied does not show the two men meeting face to face.

The Prince’s Indictment

The confrontation takes shape through the Prince’s anger at Murazov for having defended Chichikov and gone bail for him. He presents the prisoner’s conduct as especially degrading, insisting that even a common thief would not have stooped to it. When Murazov asks what matter he means, the Prince names the fraudulent will and says Chichikov ought to have been publicly flogged. His language makes clear that he sees the affair not as a technical dispute but as an offense deserving exemplary punishment.

The Prince’s indignation extends beyond Chichikov. He says that leading officials, including the local Governor, have become implicated, and he resents Murazov’s contention that Chichikov should not be confined among thieves and rascals. The scandal therefore puts the Prince’s trust in the administration under pressure: he feels as though no honest official remains, and suspects that nearly all are rogues. His judgment is forceful, but the scene also shows that the alleged misconduct reaches into the very offices expected to investigate it.

Evidence and the Limits of Judgment

Murazov does not claim that Chichikov is innocent. He explicitly disclaims any intention of exculpating him, while arguing that the case has not been proved and that sufficient evidence is still lacking. The distinction matters: the Prince speaks from moral outrage, whereas Murazov asks him to distinguish suspicion from an established case. The dispute is not over whether the affair is disgraceful, but over whether the evidence warrants treating Chichikov as guilty.

The Prince answers that the authorities have a chief witness: the woman who personated the deceased. He orders her to be brought in so that she can be questioned in Murazov’s presence. This proposed interrogation gives the conflict a concrete evidentiary focus, even as the supplied passage moves on before recording its result. The Prince’s stated certainty and Murazov’s caution thus remain in tension; the scene does not report a judicial resolution of the fraudulent-will charge.

Murazov also explains why the local Governor’s involvement requires qualification. The Governor is one of the heirs under the will and consequently has a certain right to intervene, he says. More broadly, when a wealthy woman dies without an exact and regular disposition of her property, fortune hunters gather around the inheritance. Murazov describes such interference as a predictable consequence of human nature, not as proof that every person involved has committed fraud. The Prince rejects that explanation as insufficient: human acquisitiveness may account for the crowd, but it does not excuse criminal conduct.

Murazov’s Counsel and the Decision to Pardon

The Prince’s decision changes after Murazov advises him to speak openly to the officials. Murazov says that they may presently regard the Prince as ambitious, proud, unapproachable, and self-assured; addressing them plainly would give them a chance to see the situation differently. He urges the Prince to speak not as though delivering a personal message, but as though conveying a message from God. The advice offers a way to confront institutional distrust through frankness rather than concealment. The Prince does not immediately promise to follow it, but says he will consider it and thanks Murazov for his counsel.

Murazov then recommends that Chichikov be ordered out of town. The Prince agrees and instructs Murazov to tell him to depart as quickly as possible, adding that the farther he goes, the better it will be for him. He also wants Chichikov to know that the pardon is granted only because of Murazov’s efforts. The decision sharply limits what release means: it spares Chichikov from continued confinement at that moment, but comes with compulsory departure and a warning that his safety depends on leaving.

The Prison Visit and the Unresolved Relationship

After leaving the Prince, Murazov goes to Chichikov, whom he finds enjoying a hearty dinner delivered under hot covers from an excellent kitchen. The scene sets the prisoner’s comfort against the gravity of the case and against the serious counsel Murazov is about to give. Murazov quickly concludes that Chichikov has been dealing with the army of bribe-takers and that his lawyer played the principal part in those transactions. The passage does not describe the Prince participating in those dealings; rather, it reveals that the pardon he has authorized reaches a prisoner whose behavior has apparently continued to involve bribery.

Murazov tells Chichikov that he brings freedom on one condition: immediate departure. He warns that a certain person’s efforts on Chichikov’s behalf could expose a conspiracy, and that the person might implicate others rather than face the consequences alone. Murazov also recalls that Chichikov had been in a better frame of mind at their earlier meeting, and urges him not to trifle with the danger. His appeal turns the release into a moral test as well as an order: Chichikov must leave, but Murazov also asks him to abandon the pursuit of wealth and attend to his spiritual life. The evidence ends with this warning, not with a reported response from Chichikov or a subsequent encounter with the Prince. Their relationship therefore remains asymmetrical and unsettled: the Prince has pronounced judgment and set the terms of release, while Murazov, not the Prince, delivers those terms to the prisoner.