The Theme in the Work
Happiness, in the book, always lasts a short time and is always known as such. It begins with the epigraph, which speaks of an instant in the vicinity of a heart, and ends with the last sentence, which asks whether a minute of bliss is little for a whole lifetime. Between the two, the Dreamer is truly happy a few times, and each time happiness carries its deadline within it: until tomorrow, until the other man arrives, until the end of the night (The white night). The book does not ask whether he was happy, it asks how much a happiness that does not last is worth.
Nastenka's happiness runs in parallel and to another rhythm: the fever of joy after the opera, in Nastenka's story, Second Night, the happy wait of the Third Night, and the marriage announced in the Morning. Hers is fulfilled; his is remembered.
On the First Night, the epigraph sets the measure before anything else:
Иль был он создан для того, / Чтобы побыть хотя мгновенье / В соседстве сердца твоего?.., Or was he created just for this: / to be, even if only for a moment, / in the vicinity of your heart?..
That same day, as he passes the city barrier, the Dreamer becomes happy as never before, as if he were in Italy, and compares the spring of Petersburg to a sick young woman who for a moment becomes dazzling.
Я был так счастлив… до завтра!, I was so happy... until tomorrow!
On the Second Night, he says that daydreaming is his happiness and his poison:
Новый сон — новое счастие! Новый прием утонченного, сладострастного яда!, New dream, new happiness! A new dose of a refined, voluptuous poison!
On the Third Night, writing on a rainy day, he understands that Nastenka's tenderness on the previous night was her joy at the other man's arrival, and that he took it for genuine currency. She, happy, praises him for not having fallen in love.
On the Fourth Night, after she accepts his hand, the two laugh, weep and walk aimlessly like children, making plans for a life together, and she laughingly refuses the trip to the opera (The Barber of Seville). Happiness lasts until a young man stops on the sidewalk.
On the Morning, the Dreamer refuses to cloud her happiness with a reproach, and blesses her:
да будешь ты благословенна за минуту блаженства и счастия, которое ты дала другому, одинокому, благодарному сердцу!, may you be blessed for the minute of bliss and happiness you gave to another heart, a lonely, grateful one!
And he ends with the question:
Боже мой! Целая минута блаженства! Да разве этого мало хоть бы и на всю жизнь человеческую?.., My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that little, even for an entire human life?...
The book treats happiness as something measured by its size, and the size is always small: an instant in the epigraph, a night on the First Night, a few hours on the Fourth Night, a minute on the Morning. The Dreamer, who lived on invented and complete happinesses, receives a real and minimal one, and the closing decides to call it whole. The last sentence is a question because the answer changes according to who reads it: for someone who had a full life, a minute is little; for someone who spent a life dreaming, it may be everything there was.
Who Embodies It
The Dreamer is happiness with a deadline. On the First Night, he walks the whole night without managing to return home; on the Morning, he makes her happiness his own, blessing her for the minute she gave him.
Nastenka is happiness that comes true. In Nastenka's story, Second Night, after the Barber of Seville, she goes to bed so proud and content that she runs a fever; on the Morning, she announces the marriage and asks the Dreamer to come and see them.
Where It Appears
- First Night: The epigraph speaks of an instant in the vicinity of a heart, and the Dreamer says goodbye to the young woman saying he is so happy, until tomorrow.
- Second Night: The Dreamer calls each new dream a new happiness and a new dose of a refined poison.
- Second Night, Nastenka's story: Nastenka returns from The Barber of Seville so proud and cheerful that she runs a fever.
- Third Night: The Dreamer understands that Nastenka's tenderness was her joy at the lodger's arrival.
- Fourth Night: Nastenka accepts the Dreamer's hand, and the two laugh, weep and make plans until the lodger appears.
- Morning: The Dreamer blesses Nastenka for the minute of bliss she gave him and asks whether that is little for a whole lifetime.
Where the Readings Diverge
The last sentence can be read as complete gratitude, a man who declares himself content with what he had, or as the exact measure of loss, a minute that is all he will have. The text writes it as a question and places it right after the vision of fifteen years of solitude, which sustains both.
The epigraph already asked the same question, with the same two readings: being alone for an instant in the vicinity of a heart can be complaint or consolation. The book closes the ring without choosing, and the choice the Dreamer makes, that of blessing, is his, not the text's.