Boris Godunov's Report

Boris Godunov, the weary regent, has temporarily retired. Nikitich, the police officer, forces a crowd to beg Boris to accept the throne. Andrey Shchelkalov, the Secretary of the Duma, says that Godunov still refuses to take the throne and cries over Russia’s unsolvable problem. He requests that they should keep praying because Godunov will change his mind. The procession of pilgrims sings a hymn to encourage the people to meet with the spirit of anarchy. The police officer interrupts their conversation and orders them to appear at the Moscow Kremlin tomorrow. On the following day in the Kremlin, the people kneel. Boris appears on the porch of the cathedral. He prays for God’s blessing to be a great ruler. He invites people to celebrate.

The young novice Grigoriy awakes from a terrible dream in which he climbed a tower and fell. Pimen advises him to pray. Grigoriy speaks out his regret that he retired so early to become a monk. He is jealous about Pimen’s early life of adventure. Pimen speaks approvingly of Ivan the Terrible and his son Fyodor, who both exhibited great spiritual devotion. This draws a contrast with Boris. Grigoriy questions Pimen about the dead Tsarevich Dimitri. Pimen explains the events of Dimitri’s murder and tells him that he would have been Grigoriy’s age. Grigoriy decides to escape the cloister. Grigoriy is now trying to cross into Lithuania to find his supporters. He meets two vagrant monks, Varlaam and Missailm, at an inn on the Lithuanian border. He uses them as his cover. A police officer enters with a warrant to get a fugitive monk, Grigoriy. Since the officer is illiterate, Grigoriy read the warrant. Grigoriy makes his own story to make Varlaam suspiciously. As he wishes, the officer arrests Varlaam; however, Varlaam could barely read too. The officer finds out that he should arrest Grigoriy, but Grigoriy runs

Boris takes care of her, and he tells his son about inheriting the throne and its responsibilities. He also thinks about himself when he committed to the crime, and he fears that. A powerful boyar, Shuisky, brings recent news of a pretender to the throne which is supported by the Polish court and the Pope. When Boris knows the pretender trying to be Dimitri, he is seriously shaken. Shuisky reassures him again and leaves. Boris calms down and impinges that he sees Dimitri’s ghost. He prays for mercy. Grigoriy, who now publicly claims to be Dimitri, is on his way to Sandomir Castle in Poland. He hopes to win the strong Marina Mnishek. Mnishek tries to win Grigoriy in order to get the throne of Russia. However, the Jesuit Rangoni’s plan is that Mnishek should seduce Grigoriy for the church, and this converts Russia to Catholicism. Grigoriy waits for Marine in the castle garden. He receives assurances of Marina’s love from Rangoni. He finally meets Marina. She refuses his claim of love until she is confident of his strong characteristics that could bring him as