Three Major Plays (36 page)
Authors: Lope de Vega,Gwynne Edwards
Tags: #Fiction, #Drama, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Continental European
What hope for me if I stay here?
I'll come with you to Mantua.
| AURORA. If that is what you really wish, | 790 |
You shall.
BATÍN. I kiss your feet a thousand times.
I'm always at your beck and call.
Exit
BATÍN.
Enter the
DUKE.
DUKE. How true that we are always bound
| By honour's harsh and cruel rule! * | 795 |
Into the world to prove himself
The most misguided of all fools?
But more than that, to make it all
| Depend on woman's fragile nature, | 800 |
Himself is easily the stronger!
A man, though he is not to blame,
May by another's guilt or deed,
| Be quickly robbed of his good name. * | 805 |
A code was equally deceived,
And therefore for revenge made sure
That others also are aggrieved.
Aurora!
AURORA. Yes, my lord?
| DUKE. It is | 810 |
Your hand in marriage to the Marquis.
I wish to please her rather than
Fulfil the Count's desire.
AURORA. It makes
Me truly happy, sir.
| DUKE. The Marquis should | 815 |
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AURORA. He shall at once, my lord. I'll see
To it myself he writes the letter.
[
Exit
AURORA
DUKE. I swear the punishment that I
| Intend to take is sent from Heaven above. | 820 |
From any sense of private hurt
But from God's love. For this is His
Revenge, not mine, and I am but
| The instrument of punishment divine. | 825 |
But as a father called upon to thus
Avenge a hideous sin and so demand
A punishment without revenge.
*
| It is in any case what each | 830 |
Avenge the insult secretly,
Or else dishonour is twofold.
The man is doubly shamed who gives
| The punishment publicity; | 835 |
The world then knows his infamy.
The infamous Casandra I
Have bound securely, her hands
| And feet both tightly tied, | 840 |
Stuffed in her mouth to stop her cries.
It was quite easily done, for when
I told her that I knew the truth
| And why I'd come, she fainted at | 845 |
Her pleas, is something pity could
Ignore, but when I think of killing him . . .
What heart would not immediately
| Be rent in two? The mere thought | 850 |
My limbs grow weak. My blood runs cold
Through frozen veins; I cannot find
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The strength to speak. I feel as if
| My spirit faints; my eyes, despite | 855 |
Against my breast; I find it difficult
To breathe, just as on some cold winter's night
A flowing stream will start to freeze.
| But I must not let love divert | 860 |
The Scriptures tell us, it is God's
Command that sons must be obedient to
Their fathers in the things they do,
| And not dishonour them, like Federico. | 865 |
Who breaks God's law and brings such shame
Upon a father. For it is possible
That such a son is capable
| Of murder too. Artaxerxes * | 870 |
Torquatus, Brutus, Darius
*
stained their swords
With blood in order to enforce the laws.
No, love must never stay my swift,
| Avenging hand when honour, now | 875 |
Implacable demands. For it is truth
That prosecutes, and eyes and ears
That state the evidence of their guilt.
| And though both love and blood speak out | 880 |
And infamy that now proclaim
Their lack of innocence. It is God's law
That in the end decides the case
| When conscience writes man's guilt upon | 885 |
Afraid? I pray that Heaven now offers me
Its aid.
Enter
FEDERICO.
FEDERICO. My lord, am I to think
That you've agreed Aurora's to
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| Be married to the Marquis of Gonzaga? | 890 |
Her off to Mantua.
DUKE. I cannot say
That it is true or not. I do
Not know. Other, more important things
Preoccupy me now.
| FEDERICO. No one | 895 |
It that so bothers you?
DUKE. It seems
A certain nobleman has, with the help
Of others, planned to bring about
| My overthrow. He told his secret to | 900 |
Thus proving that we always place
Our trust in them most foolishly,
But at the same time flatter them
| Most prudently. I summoned him, | 905 |
Must urgently discuss, and when
He came informed him that his little scheme
Had been revealed to us. He went
| Quite pale as soon as I referred to it, | 910 |
A fainting fit. How easy it
Then was to tie him to the chair
And hide his true identity,
| So when we put an end to him, | 915 |
Throughout the whole of Italy.
Now you are here, I take you in
My confidence, but no one else
| Must know of this. I urge you take | 920 |
I shall observe from here if you
Have nerve enough to put an end
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To my worst enemy.
FEDERICO. But is
| There some conspiracy, or are | 925 |
DUKE. If any father asks his son
To act on his behalf, does he
Then start to make a fuss and prove
| Himself not half the man his father thought? | 930 |
FEDERICO. Give me the sword. Wait here. I swear
That I do not feel fear. You say
The man is tied securely. Why is
It, then, my hands begin to shake
So uncontrollably?
| DUKE. I'll go myself. | 935 |
FEDERICO. No.
You ordered me. I'll see it through.
And yet . . .
DUKE. You lack the nerve to go
And do it now.
FEDERICO. If it were Caesar, I
| Would prove to you that I could run | 940 |
[
He draws his sword and leaves
DUKE. I'll watch
From here. He now approaches her.
He drives the sword right through. The man
Who by his actions stained my honour thus
| Restores it. * Guards! Come quickly! | 945 |
Enter the
MARQUIS, AURORA, BATÍN,
RICARDO,
and others.
MARQUIS. Why do you summon us? What makes
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You call so loudly?
DUKE. Whoever saw
Such cold and callous treachery?
| The Count had learned Casandra was | 950 |
That it would rob him of inheritance
And in his jealousy has murdered her.
I am the Duke. I order you
| Take vengeance on the murderer. | 955 |
MARQUIS. Casandra dead?
DUKE. Yes, there inside.
MARQUIS. I swear I'll not return to Mantua
Until the traitor has been duly tried.
DUKE. He comes. See how his sword is stained
With blood.
Enter
FEDERICO.
| FEDERICO. What have I done? I took | 960 |
And found the person you had claimed
A traitor was . . .
DUKE. You dare blame me
For your treachery? Kill him
At once.
| MARQUIS. He has admitted guilt | 965 |
FEDERICO. Why, father, why
Have you done this to me?
[
Exit
FEDERICO,
pursued by the
MARQUIS
DUKE. You will
Discover why on Judgement Day.
Aurora, you are free to leave
| For Mantua. The Marquis is a good | 970 |
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AURORA. I am confused. I cannot think
Of what to say.
BATÍN. Say yes. There is
Good cause for what has happened here
Today.
| AURORA. Then let me think on it. | 975 |
Enter the
MARQUIS.
MARQUIS. The deed is done. His treachery
Is over.
DUKE. Great is my grief, and yet
I wish to see his body lie beside Casandra.
[
The bodies are revealed
| MARQUIS. Behold a punishment without revenge. | 980 |
DUKE. No man who punishes a sin Can truly claim he is avenged.
I cannot look. For pity's sake!
My poor heart begins to break!
| He thought he could inherit all | 985 |
This lifeless body.
BATÍN. And with it ends
This tragedy, a timely lesson for
All Spain,
*
a wondrous sight for all
| Of Italy. | 990 |
Praise be to God and the Virgin Mother
In Madrid, First of August 1631.
Fray Lope Félix de Vega Carpio.
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2
[The Characters of the Play] An Alderman:
there are, in fact, various aldermen, but in the published edition of
1619 there was a good deal of carelessness. Neither is there any
mention of Leonelo, a Peasant, and a Soldier.
3 [
Act One
]:
in early editions of Golden Age plays there is no scene division. This
practice was introduced by nineteenth-century editors but is no longer
regarded as correct.
The Master:
the Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, in this case Rodrigo
Téllez Girón, who had succeeded to the position at the age of 8 and
who, when the play begins, is 17. The Grand Master was the head of the
order, which had been founded in the twelfth century, along with the
Order of Alcántara and the Order of Santiago, in order to defend the
Christian states of Spain against the Moslems. For the historical
situation at the start of the play, see the Introduction, pp. xii-xiii.
Grand | Commander: a position immediately below that of the Grand
Master.
4
cross of Calatrava:
the cloak of the Order of Calatrava was white, with a red cross.
Fernando:
the full form of Fernán.
5
Your brave and famous father:
the father of Rodrigo Téllez Girón was Don Pedro Girón, twenty-eighth
Master of Calatrava, who renounced his position in favour of his
young son.
Pius:
Pope Pius II, who, in 1466, when Rodrigo was
only 8, had agreed to the request of the Order that the boy be
appointed Master.
Paul:
Pope Paul II subsequently appointed Don
Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena and the boy's uncle, as Coadjutor.
Juan Pacheco died when Rodrigo was 16, at which time he became Grand
Master on his own.
King Henry the Fourth:
King of Castile in the second half of the fifteenth century and who died in 1479.
Juana:
in 1462 King Henry married the princess Juana of Portugal, who in the
same year produced a child, also called Juana. Her legitimacy was, in
fact, doubtful, for many suspected that her real father was Don Beltrán
de la Cueva, her mother's favourite at Court, and the child came to
be known as Juana la Beltraneja. She later married Alonso V of
Portugal.
Fernando:
Fernando, heir to the throne of Aragon, became King of Aragon in 1479.
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