Public Speaking Script

Good afternoon everyone, today I am going to tell a story about The Murder of
Rasputin.

Grigori Rasputin, born on was a Siberian-born peasant who underwent a religious

conversion as a teenager and later became a wandering holy man and a self-
proclaimed mystic and healer. His religious fervor combined with his personal
charisma brought him to the attention of some of the Russian Orthodoxy and senior
members of the Imperial family, who introduced Rasputin to Czar Nicholas II and
Czarina Alexandra in 1906. By 1908, he had won favor with the Czar and Czarina
through his ability to stop the bleeding of their son Alexi, who suffered from
hemophilia. 

Despite being widely condemned by the public as a charlatan for his drunkenness and
debauchery, Rasputin wielded great power and influence over the ruling family,
particularly with the Czarina, who was convinced of his mystical healing abilities
and rumors swirled that the two were lovers. When Nicholas left to lead Russian
forces during WWI, Rasputin effectually ruled the country through Alexandra, which
only added to the perceived corruption and chaos of the Romanov regime. As the war
continued, outlandish stories about the monk expanded to include a treasonous plot
with Germany, an effort to start a cholera epidemic in St. Petersburg with poisoned
apples, and lurid tales about Rasputin and the Czar’s young daughters. 
Many within the Russian nobility and the church orthodoxy became fearful of
Rasputin’s growing power and control, and there was a demand to have him removed by
any means necessary. In an effort to rid the court and the country of Rasputin’s
influence, a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Yussupov, the richest man in
Russia and the husband of the Czar’s only niece, and Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich,
the Czar’s first cousin, plotted the monk’s demise.

On the night of December 29, 1916, Yussupov and Pavlovich lured Rasputin to Moika
Palace in St. Petersburg. The would-be killers first gave the monk food and wine
laced with cyanide, however, when Rasputin seemingly failed to respond to the
poison, they shot him at close range and left him for dead. In spite of these
murderous measures, Rasputin revived shortly thereafter and made an attempt to flee
the palace grounds, only to be intercepted by his assailants who shot him again and
viciously beat him. They then bound Rasputin, who was remarkably still alive, and
threw him into the freezing Neva River. His battered body was found several days
later and it was reported that there was water in his lungs, indicating that he
finally died by drowning. 
Yussupov wrote the most well-known account of Rasputin’s murder in his memoir,
originally published in 1928. He wrote, “This devil who was dying of poison, who
had a bullet in his heart, must have been raised from the dead by the powers of
evil. There was something appalling and monstrous in his diabolical refusal to
die.” Before the murder, Yussupov had lived a relatively frivolous life of
privilege. Plotting Rasputin’s death had given him the opportunity to reinvent
himself as a patriot, determined to protect the throne and restore the reputation
of the monarchy. 

Yussupov and his co-conspirators hoped the removal of Rasputin would make Nicholas
II more open to the advice of the nobility and the Duma, giving him a final chance
to save the monarchy. However, the monk’s murder did not lead to any radical
changes of the Czar and Czarina’s politics, leading up to the start of the Russian
Revolution in March 1917. To the Bolsheviks, Rasputin symbolized the corruption at
the heart of imperial rule and they viewed his murder as an attempt by the nobility
to stay in power at the expense of the proletariat. 

Years later, in 1934, Yussupov coldly recounted how he helped slay Rasputin when he
testified in the suit of his wife against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which charged she
was libeled in a film in which one of the characters representing her was seduced
by Rasputin. 

Thank you everyone for your attention, now I give the control back to the Master of
Speaking Dojo.