Resurrection

Spring arrives in the city despite human attempts to suppress nature. In a prison office, officials prepare for the trial of three prisoners. A jailer and a warder call for Katerina Maslova—or Katyusha—a young woman with pale skin and black hair, to be taken to court. Maslova is given advice by an older female prisoner to stick to her story. She is escorted through the men’s ward and the prison office by soldiers. Outside, townspeople observe her with curiosity and judgment. A peasant gives her a coin, and Maslova smiles when a pigeon flies near her.

Maslova was born to a poor, unmarried peasant woman. She was saved from neglect by two maiden ladies who partially raised her. Treated half as a servant and half as a young lady, she grew up sheltered but without a clear place in society. At 16, she fell in love with her benefactors’ nephew, a young prince—Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, who later seduced and abandoned her, leaving her pregnant.

After losing her child and her job, Maslova struggled to find work and was repeatedly exploited and assaulted by male employers. Eventually, she became involved in sex work after being lured by a “procuress.