Knowledge house - Oscar Wilde - The Complete Works

Better perhaps

That you had done so! May be better still

I’d not been born to this distressful world.

moranzone

Farewell!

guido

Farewell! Some day, Lord Moranzone,

You will understand my vengeance.

moranzone

Never, boy.

[ Gets out of window and exit by rope ladder .]

guido

Father, I think thou knowest my resolve,

And with this nobler vengeance art content.

Father, I think in letting this man live

That I am doing what thou wouldst have done.

Father, I know not if a human voice

Can pierce the iron gateway of the dead,

·93· Or if the dead are set in ignorance

Of what we do, or do not, for their sakes.

And yet I feel a presence in the air,

There is a shadow standing at my side,

And ghostly kisses seem to touch my lips,

And leave them holier. [ Kneels down .]

O father, if ’tis thou,

Canst thou not burst through the decrees of death,

And if corporeal semblance show thyself,

That I may touch thy hand!

No, there is nothing. [ Rises .]

’Tis the night that cheats us with its phantoms,

And, like a puppet-master, makes us think

That things are real which are not. It grows late.

Now must I to my business.

[ Pulls out a letter from his doublet and reads it .]

When he wakes,

And sees this letter, and the dagger with it,

Will he not have some loathing for his life,

Repent, perchance, and lead a better life,

Or will he mock because a young man spared

His natural enemy? I do not care.

·94· Father, it is thy bidding that I do,

Thy bidding, and the bidding of my love

Which teaches me to know thee as thou art.

[ Ascends staircase stealthily, and just as he reaches out his hand to draw back the curtain the Duchess appears all in white. Guido starts back .]

duchess

Guido! what do you here so late?

guido

O white and spotless angel of my life,

Sure thou hast come from Heaven with a message

That mercy is more noble than revenge?

duchess

There is no barrier between us now.

guido

None, love, nor shall be.

duchess

I have seen to that.

guido

Tarry here for me.

·95· duchess

No, you are not going?

You will not leave me as you did before?

guido

I will return within a moment’s space,

But first I must repair to the Duke’s chamber,

And leave this letter and this dagger there,

That when he wakes——

duchess

When who wakes?

guido

Why, the Duke.

duchess

He will not wake again.

guido

What, is he dead?

duchess

Ay! he is dead.

guido

O God! how wonderful

Are all thy secret ways! Who would have said

That on this very night, when I had yielded

·96· Into thy hands the vengeance that is thine,

Thou with thy finger wouldst have touched the man,

And bade him come before thy judgment seat.

duchess

I have just killed him.

guido [ in horror ]

Oh!

duchess

He was asleep;

Come closer, love, and I will tell you all.

I had resolved to kill myself to-night.

About an hour ago I waked from sleep,

And took my dagger from beneath my pillow,

Where I had hidden it to serve my need,

And drew it from the sheath, and felt the edge,

And thought of you, and how I loved you, Guido,

And turned to fall upon it, when I marked

The old man sleeping, full of years and sin;

There lay he muttering curses in his sleep,

And as I looked upon his evil face

Suddenly like a flame there flashed across me,

There is the barrier which Guido spoke of:

·97· You said there lay a barrier between us,

What barrier but he?—

I hardly know

What happened, but a steaming mist of blood

Rose up between us two.

guido

Oh, horrible!

duchess

And then he groaned,

And then he groaned no more! I only heard

The dripping of the blood upon the floor.

guido

Enough, enough.

duchess

Will you not kiss me now?

Do you remember saying that women’s love

Turns men to angels? well, the love of man

Turns women into martyrs; for its sake

We do or suffer anything.

guido

O God!

duchess

Will you not speak?

·98· guido

I cannot speak at all.

duchess

Let us not talk of this! Let us go hence:

Is not the barrier broken down between us?

What would you more? Come, it is almost morning.

[ Puts her hand on Guido’s .]

guido [ breaking from her ]

O damned saint! O angel fresh from Hell!

What bloody devil tempted thee to this!

That thou hast killed thy husband, that is nothing—

Hell was already gaping for his soul—

But thou hast murdered Love, and in its place

Hast set a horrible and bloodstained thing,

Whose very breath breeds pestilence and plague,

And strangles Love.

duchess [ in amazed wonder ]

I did it all for you.

I would not have you do it, had you willed it,

For I would keep you without blot or stain,

A thing unblemished, unassailed, untarnished.

Men do not know what women do for love.

·99· Have I not wrecked my soul for your dear sake,

Here and hereafter?

guido

No, do not touch me,

Between us lies a thin red stream of blood;

I dare not look across it: when you stabbed him

You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the heart.

We cannot meet again.

duchess [ wringing her hands ]

For you! For you!

I did it all for you: have you forgotten?

You said there was a barrier between us;

That barrier lies now i’ the upper chamber

Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered down,

And will not part us ever.

guido

No, you mistook:

Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up;

Crime was the barrier, you have set it there.

The barrier was murder, and your hand

Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven,

It shuts out God.

·100· duchess

I did it all for you;

You dare not leave me now: nay, Guido, listen.

Get horses ready, we will fly to-night.

The past is a bad dream, we will forget it:

Before us lies the future: shall we not have

Sweet days of love beneath our vines and laugh?—

No, no, we will not laugh, but, when we weep,

Well, we will weep together; I will serve you;

I will be very meek and very gentle:

You do not know me.

guido

Nay, I know you now;

Get hence, I say, out of my sight.

duchess [ pacing up and down ]

O God,

How I have loved this man!

guido

You never loved me.

Had it been so, Love would have stayed your hand.

How could we sit together at Love’s table?

You have poured poison in the sacred wine,

And Murder dips his fingers in the sop.

·101· duchess [ throws herself on her knees ]

Then slay me now! I have spilt blood to-night,

You shall spill more, so we go hand in hand

To heaven or to hell. Draw your sword, Guido.

Quick, let your soul go chambering in my heart,

It will but find its master’s image there.

Nay, if you will not slay me with your sword,

Bid me to fall upon this reeking knife,

And I will do it.

guido [ wresting knife from her ]

Give it to me, I say.

O God, your very hands are wet with blood!

This place is Hell, I cannot tarry here.

I pray you let me see your face no more.

duchess

Better for me I had not seen your face.