Knowledge house - Oscar Wilde - The Complete Works

mrs. arbuthnot

I wouldn’t have accepted a penny from her. Your father was different. He told you, in my presence, when we were in Paris, that it was your duty to marry me.

lord illingworth

Oh, duty is what one expects from others, it is ·79· not what one does one’s-self. Of course, I was influenced by my mother. Every man is when he is young.

mrs. arbuthnot

I am glad to hear you say so. Gerald shall certainly not go away with you.

lord illingworth

What nonsense, Rachel!

mrs. arbuthnot

Do you think I would allow my son——

lord illingworth

Our son.

mrs. arbuthnot

My son [ Lord Illingworth shrugs his shoulders ]—to go away with the man who spoiled my youth, who ruined my life, who has tainted every moment of my days? You don’t realise what my past has been in suffering and in shame.

lord illingworth

My dear Rachel, I must candidly say that I think Gerald’s future considerably more important than your past.

mrs. arbuthnot

Gerald cannot separate his future from my past.

·80· lord illingworth

That is exactly what he should do. That is exactly what you should help him to do. What a typical woman you are! You talk sentimentally, and you are thoroughly selfish the whole time. But don’t let us have a scene. Rachel, I want you to look at this matter from the common-sense point of view, from the point of view of what is best for our son, leaving you and me out of the question. What is our son at present? An underpaid clerk in a small Provincial Bank in a third-rate English town. If you imagine he is quite happy in such a position, you are mistaken. He is thoroughly discontented.

mrs. arbuthnot

He was not discontented till he met you. You have made him so.

lord illingworth

Of course, I made him so. Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. But I did not leave him with a mere longing for things he could not get. No, I made him a charming offer. He jumped at it, I need hardly say. Any young man would. And now, simply because it turns out that I am the boy’s own father and he my own son, you propose practically to ruin his career. That is to say, if I were a perfect stranger, you would allow Gerald to go away with me, but as he is my own flesh and blood you won’t. How utterly illogical you are!

·81· mrs. arbuthnot

I will not allow him to go.

lord illingworth

How can you prevent it? What excuse can you give to him for making him decline such an offer as mine? I won’t tell him in what relations I stand to him, I need hardly say. But you daren’t tell him. You know that. Look how you have brought him up.

mrs. arbuthnot

I have brought him up to be a good man.

lord illingworth

Quite so. And what is the result? You have educated him to be your judge if he ever finds you out. And a bitter, an unjust judge he will be to you. Don’t be deceived, Rachel. Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

mrs. arbuthnot

George, don’t take my son away from me. I have had twenty years of sorrow, and I have only had one thing to love me, only one thing to love. You have had a life of joy, and pleasure, and success. You have been quite happy, you have never thought of us. There was no reason, according to your views of life, why you should have remembered us at all. Your meeting us ·82· was a mere accident, a horrible accident. Forget it. Don’t come now, and rob me of … of all I have, of all I have in the whole world. You are so rich in other things. Leave me the little vineyard of my life; leave me the walled-in garden and the well of water; the ewe-lamb God sent me, in pity or in wrath, oh! leave me that. George, don’t take Gerald from me.

lord illingworth

Rachel, at the present moment you are not necessary to Gerald’s career; I am. There is nothing more to be said on the subject.

mrs. arbuthnot

I will not let him go.

lord illingworth

Here is Gerald. He has a right to decide for himself.

[ Enter Gerald .]

gerald

Well, dear mother, I hope you have settled it all with Lord Illingworth?

mrs. arbuthnot

I have not, Gerald.

lord illingworth

Your mother seems not to like your coming with me, for some reason.

·83· gerald

Why, mother?

mrs. arbuthnot

I thought you were quite happy here with me, Gerald. I didn’t know you were so anxious to leave me.

gerald

Mother, how can you talk like that? Of course I have been quite happy with you. But a man can’t stay always with his mother. No chap does. I want to make myself a position, to do something. I thought you would have been proud to see me Lord Illingworth’s secretary.

mrs. arbuthnot

I do not think you would be suitable as a private secretary to Lord Illingworth. You have no qualifications.

lord illingworth

I don’t wish to seem to interfere for a moment, Mrs. Arbuthnot, but as far as your last objection is concerned, I surely am the best judge. And I can only tell you that your son has all the qualifications I had hoped for. He has more, in fact, than I had even thought of. Far more. [ Mrs. Arbuthnot remains silent .] Have you any other reason, Mrs. Arbuthnot, why you don’t wish your son to accept this post?

·84· gerald

Have you, mother? Do answer.

lord illingworth

If you have, Mrs. Arbuthnot, pray, pray say it. We are quite by ourselves here. Whatever it is, I need not say I will not repeat it.

gerald

Mother?

lord illingworth

If you would like to be alone with your son, I will leave you. You may have some other reason you don’t wish me to hear.

mrs. arbuthnot

I have no other reason.

lord illingworth

Then, my dear boy, we may look on the thing as settled. Come, you and I will smoke a cigarette on the terrace together. And Mrs. Arbuthnot, pray let me tell you, that I think you have acted very, very wisely.

[ Exit with Gerald. Mrs. Arbuthnot is left alone. She stands immobile, with a look of unutterable sorrow on her face .]

Act-drop.

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·87· SCENE—The Picture Gallery at Hunstanton. Door at back leading on to terrace.

[ Lord Illingworth and Gerald, R.C. Lord Illingworth lolling on a sofa. Gerald in a chair .]

lord illingworth

Thoroughly sensible woman, your mother, Gerald. I knew she would come round in the end.

gerald

My mother is awfully conscientious, Lord Illingworth, and I know she doesn’t think I am educated enough to be your secretary. She is perfectly right, too. I was fearfully idle when I was at school, and I couldn’t pass an examination now to save my life.

lord illingworth

My dear Gerald, examinations are of no value whatsoever. If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.

·88· gerald

But I am so ignorant of the world, Lord Illingworth.

lord illingworth

Don’t be afraid, Gerald. Remember that you’ve got on your side the most wonderful thing in the world—youth! There is nothing like youth. The middle-aged are mortgaged to Life. The old are in Life’s lumber-room. But youth is the Lord of Life. Youth has a kingdom waiting for it. Every one is born a king, and most people die in exile, like most kings. To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t do—except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of the community.

gerald

But you don’t call yourself old, Lord Illingworth?

lord illingworth

I am old enough to be your father, Gerald.

gerald

I don’t remember my father; he died years ago.