Three Major Plays (30 page)

DUKE. I know
You did, my son. But loyalty
Like this deserves at least that I
Should say to you that I regret
The day I chose to marry.

FEDERICO. My lord,

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If you want proof your marriage does
Not sadden me, and more than that,
That you enjoy my love, I'll ask
Aurora if it is her honest wish

To marry me. If she says yes,

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I shall be happy to obey.
It would be wrong of me to do
The opposite of what you say.

DUKE. To judge by what she's said, she eagerly
Awaits that day.

FEDERICO. I think she may

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Have changed, and that explains why now
She has the Marquis constantly
In train.

DUKE. And why is that of such
Concern to you?

FEDERICO. Because the man

About to marry does not want

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To think that some gallant commands
His lady's thoughts, or when he marries her
That she's already bought.

DUKE. If men
Were constantly concerned about

The women in their lives, they'd have

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To lock them up to keep them safe*
From prying eyes. Think of a mirror as
You breathe on it; the image disappears.
But take a cloth to clean the glass,

The surface that was soiled appears clear.

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-208-

FEDERICO. I value such advice and wit
But offer you a different thought
That surely must counter it.
A blacksmith working in his forge,

When suddenly the furnace roars,

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And spits its flames -- at once he pours
On water, thinking it will tame
The blaze, instead of which it is
Inflamed much more and in the end

Consumes the water. The same is true

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Of any husband who, at first,
Believes he has contained the lover's fire
But then observes the flames of love
Leap higher still. And so I would

Do well to fear any man

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Who loves, and not provide for him
The water that inflames his love
And in the process burns my honour.
^*

DUKE. You speak most foolishly, as though

Aurora's purity were something you

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Consider blackened. I'll not listen
Any more.

FEDERICO. My lord.

DUKE. I said no more.

[
Exit the
DUKE

FEDERICO. Wait, my lord.

BATÍN. I do admire, master
The way you try to win your father's favour.

FEDERICO. I welcome his displeasure more,

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So I can truly say I have enjoyed
The fullest measure of unhappiness.
The depth of my despair* is such,
I do not really care if I

Should die; and if I were to die,

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I'd want to live a thousand times

-209-

Again, so I could die again
As many times as I had lived.
And yet I neither wish to live

Nor die, because to live means I

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Must suffer anguish in its way
As terrible as death; and if
I do not kill myself, it is
Because death is a lesser evil than

The pain that in this life I am

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Obliged to bear.

BATÍN. In that case, if
You neither wish to live or die,
I'd say that you are just like what
They call hermaphrodite,
^*
which is

To say a person who is neither man

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Or woman really, but a bit
Of both of them, as you yourself
Are split between not knowing if
You are alive or dead. I tell

You truly, sir, the piteous sight

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Of you upsets me so, you either tell
Me what is wrong with you or I
Shall go and be a servant somewhere else.

FEDERICO. Batín, if I were able to describe

What troubles me, it would be bearable,

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A malady whose end would then
Seem possible. And yet, the anguish that
I feel is so intense, so terrible,
It cannot be described but only felt.

And if, in order to console

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Myself, I try to speak, I have
To stop, because the gulf that separates
The spirit from the tongue is just
As great as that which commonly

Divides the earth from heaven. Leave me if

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You wish, Batín. I'm best alone.
The feelings I now have, no man
Would wish to call his own.

-210-

Enter
CASANDRA
and
AURORA.

CASANDRA. You weep for that?

AURORA. You think it strange,

My lady, when the man I love

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Despises me? He says I love
The Marquis of Gonzaga. Carlos, me!
He cannot tell me why or when,
But just accuses me of that. Oh, I

Know why. This marriage has upset

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Him so, that even though I was
The very light that shone on him,
He cannot stand the sight of anything
That now reminds him of what was,

And eyes that he once loved are now

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To be despised. There was a time
When each new dawn saw Federico come
In search of that still brighter dawn
^*
He'd learned to call his own. Was there

A garden or a fountain then

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That did not hear sweet words of love?
Could not these lips, this brow compete
With jasmine or some perfect flower?
And when we said goodbye to one

Another, was there a moment he

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Enjoyed away from me, an instant he'd
Describe as moderately happy?
The truth is that the love we felt
Was purified within the crucible

Of long familiarity,

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Two souls that God had given us
Made one. But now that love that seemed
To have been born with us is broken by
Deceit, its knot most cruelly undone

By Federico's sense of loss

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And failed ambition.

CASANDRA. It grieves me to have been
The cause of it, and yet it may

-211-

Not be too late, perhaps, to speak
To him, assuming anyone

Can ever counter jealousy

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With cool and calculated reason.

AURORA. You really think the Count is jealous?

CASANDRA. The Duke thinks, of the Marquis.

AURORA. I,
My lady, am convinced the cause

Is neither jealousy nor love,

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But something else.

[Exit AURORA

CASANDRA. Federico.

FEDERICO. My lady, let me kiss your hand
And always be your humble slave.

CASANDRA. I will not have you kneel to me

Like this. If you persist, I'll have

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To make you duke to my duchess.*

FEDERICO. If you refuse, you harm my love,
I must insist.

CASANDRA. Then I shall offer you
My arms and help you up. But what

Is this? Why do you stare at me

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And tremble so? You know how much
I care for you.

FEDERICO. The truth is that
My soul dares think you do, informs
My heart, my heart my face,

And thus obliges me to stare

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At you.

CASANDRA. Batín, I need to be
Alone with him.

BATÍN. Him in a state
And on his own with her! I think

-212-

There's something I can't fathom here.

[Exit BATÍN

FEDERICO. If only I could die and not,

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In imitation of the Phoenix, be
Reborn, I could resist the pain
Of love.

CASANDRA. Aurora tells me you
Are jealous, Federico, ever since

The Marquis came, and having promised you

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Would marry her, no longer seem
To have the same intention. Am
I, then, to think you underestimate
Your worth when jealousy and envy are

Both wise, and draw attention to the faults

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Of any rival? The Marquis, as
You know, is bold enough, but more
The soldier than the dashing courtier.

On that account I rather think

The fact your father's married me

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The real cause of this dark mood:
A deep anxiety that our first-
Born child may rob you of the lands
You thought your own; that all the hopes

You had of one day ruling these

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Estates have flown. If that is true,
And I am thus the cause of this
Unhappiness, regard me too
As someone who now puts an end

To all your sadness. Believe me, there

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Will be no brothers. The Duke was forced
To marry me to satisfy
The will of others. His nightly sports --
How else can I describe them? -- let

Him spend one night with me,* that seemed

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To him a century, before
Those past delights attracted him
And seemed more fascinating than

-213-

Before. Just as a horse breaks free

When frightened by the sound of some

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Great drum, and scatters to the wind
Those things -- bit, bridle, girth, and rein --
That otherwise would stop its run,
So now the Duke, defiantly

Resisting all the bonds imposed

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By marriage, shatters them, and seeks
Instead immoral women, tarnishing
My own good name. He rides roughshod
Upon the honour,* valour, worth

And well-earned fame of all his ancestors,

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And idly spends his days and nights
In pleasure with the women he
Procures. If, then, all this is true,
You can be sure you'll inherit his

Estates. As for myself, I think

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My father may well help me to escape
When I inform him that the Duke
Is more a tyrant than a husband,
And this is more a prison than

A palace . . . unless my death, of course,

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Provides an earlier release.

FEDERICO. My lady, first of all you scold
Me like some disobedient child,
And then begin to weep such tears

As would reduce the hardest rock

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To pure mildness and compassion.
What is the cause of it? No doubt
You see me as the son of someone who
Offends you cruelly. I swear

I'll never be the son of any man

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Who treats you so unfairly. I am
Amazed, as well, that you should think
My melancholy thoughts are due
To either greed or jealousy.

Who says I need estates to be

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The man I am? I can quite easily,

-214-

By marrying Aurora, gain them.
And if I were to take to arms,
And occupy some wealthy neighbour's lands,

What would it matter to me then

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If from my father's I were banned?
Oh, no, this sadness does not spring
From any greed or great ambition,
Though you may judge from everything

I say that never was a man

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More sad or desperate than I
Am now, since love first placed those sharp
And deadly arrows in his bow.
I die and find no remedy.

My life is like a burning candle,

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Fading slowly. I pray that death
Will not force me to wait until
The wax has dripped away, but like
A gust of wind come suddenly,

Extinguishing the cursed light of day.

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CASANDRA. Noble Federico, dry these tears.
I cannot think that God intended man
To weep so bitterly; more that he
Display his bravery. The truth

Is Nature planned that women, for

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The most part, are the ones to weep,
For though they may be brave, they often lack
The courage to defend themselves.
But not so men. There is but one

Occasion when a man may weep:

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Which is when honour has been lost,
And he is forced to count the cost
Of its recovery. Oh, how,
Aurora, could you so abuse

A man so good, so sweet, so worthy of

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Your love, and thus reduce him to
This state of utter misery?

FEDERICO. To think Aurora is to blame
Is quite mistaken.

-215-