Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 5 - The Story of the Judge

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus his musicians)
• Judge Azdack
• Natella Abashvilli and the Adjutant

People from Azdack’s story (pre-judge):
• Fugitive (Grand Duke)
• Policeman Shauva (who Azdack later makes Public Prosecutor)
• Three Ironshirts
• Fat Prince Arsen Kazbeki and his nephew Biergarten Kazbeki

People from Azdack’s court cases:
• The limping man and the invalid, who are both suing a doctor
• The blackmailer
• An old bearded innkeeper, his daughter-in-law Ludovica, and a stableman
• An old woman, some farmers, and the axe-wielding bandit Irkali

Plot synopsis:

This scene takes a break from Grusha’s story, instead telling the backstory of the Judge who will be presiding her trial. The Judge, Azdack, used to have a rivalry with Shauva, a policeman at the time, back when he was just a village clerk who occasionally got in trouble with the law. Azdack takes in a fugitive and, despite initially treating him in a derogatory manner, ends up protecting him from Shauva, more so because he doesn’t want to do anything for “that brute of a policeman”. The fugitive stays with Azdack for some time before Azdack realizes that he has been harboring the overthrown Grand Duke. Ashamed of having done so much for this murderer, Azdack goes to himself over to the courts, only to learn from three Ironshirts and Shauva that the Judge of that time  has been hanged. Through a song taught to him by his grandfather from Poland, Azdack warns them about the dangers of these lawless times.
It is at this point that the fat Prince appears with his nephew. The fat Prince offers to put his nephew up for the position of new Judge, and though he says it is their choice, he is very confident that his nephew will get the job. Azdack suggests that the nephew undergo a test trial, with Azdack playing the role of the Grand Duke as defendant. Azdack manages to undo all of the nephew’s arguments while cracking up the Ironshirts and nearly driving the Prince crazy. In the end, the Ironshirts appoint Azdack as their new Judge.
The rest of the scene shows some of the cases Azdack dealt with as judge, with Shauva now working for him. The main purpose of this is to show that Azdack is a Robin Hood-like figure; rather than making the truly just decision, he always does what he can to help whichever side is worse off in the eyes of society. The only case that is relevant in and of itself is the appearance of the governor’s wife, Natella Abashvilli, at the end of the scene. Azdack promises to find the woman who stole her son Michael and behead her, but the Governor’s wife seems to distrust him.