Plays: the Father; Countess Julie; the Outlaw; the Stronger Part 28

KRISTIN. That is my life's belief, as true as I stand here. And that was my childhood's belief that I have kept since my youth, Miss Julie. And where sin overflows, there mercy overflows also.

JULIE. Oh, if I only had your faith. Oh, if--

KRISTIN. Yes, but you see that is not given without G.o.d's particular grace, and that is not allotted to all, that!

JULIE. Who are the chosen?

KRISTIN. That is the great secret of the Kingdom of Grace, and the Lord has no respect for persons. But there the last shall be first.

JULIE. But then has he respect for the last--the lowliest person?

KRISTIN [Continuing]. It is easier for a camel to pa.s.s through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That's the way it is, Miss Julie. However--now I am going--alone. And on my way I shall stop in and tell the stable boy not to let any horses go out in case any one wants to get away before the Count comes home. Good bye.

[Exit Kristin.]

JEAN. Such a devil. And all this on account of your confounded canary!

JULIE [Tired]. Oh, don't speak of the canary--do you see any way out--any end to this?

JEAN [Thinking]. No.

JULIE. What would you do in my place?

JEAN. In your place--wait. As a n.o.ble lady, as a woman--fallen--I don't know. Yes, now I know.

JULIE [She takes up razor from table and makes gestures saying] This?

JEAN. Yes. But _I_ should not do it, mark you, for there is a difference between us.

JULIE. Because you are a man and I am a woman? What other difference is there?

JEAN. That very difference--of man and woman.

JULIE [Razor in hand]. I want to do it--but I can't. My father couldn't either that time when he should have done it.

JEAN. No, he was right, not to do it--he had to avenge himself first.

JULIE. And now my mother revenges herself again through me.

JEAN. Haven't you loved your father, Miss Julie?

JULIE. Yes, deeply. But I have probably hated him too, I must have--without being aware of it. And it is due to my father's training that I have learned to scorn my own s.e.x. Between them both they have made me half man, half woman. Whose is the fault for what has happened--my father's? My mother's? My own? I haven't anything of my own. I haven't a thought which was not my father's--not a pa.s.sion that wasn't my mother's. And last of all from my betrothed the idea that all people are equal. For that I now call him a wretch. How can it be my own fault then? Throw the burden on Jesus as Kristin did? No, I am too proud, too intelligent, thanks to my father's teaching.-- --And that a rich man cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven--that is a lie, and Kristin, who has money in the savings bank--she surely cannot enter there. Whose is the fault? What does it concern us whose fault it is? It is I who must bear the burden and the consequences.

JEAN. Yes, but-- --

[Two sharp rings on bell are heard. Julie starts to her feet. Jean changes his coat.]

JEAN. The Count--has returned. Think if Kristin has-- [Goes up to speaking tube and listens.]

JULIE. Now he has seen the desk!

JEAN [Speaking in the tube]. It is Jean, Excellency. [Listens]. Yes, Excellency. [Listens].Yes, Excellency,--right away--immediately, Excellency. Yes--in half an hour.

JULIE [In great agitation]. What did he say? In Heaven's name, what did he say?

JEAN. He wants his boots and coffee in a half hour.

JULIE. In half an hour then. Oh, I'm so tired--I'm incapable of feeling, not able to be sorry, not able to go, not able to stay, not able to live--not able to die. Help me now. Command me--I will obey like a dog.

Do me this last service--save my honor. Save his name. You know what I have the will to do--but cannot do. You will it and command me to execute your will.

JEAN. I don't know why--but now I can't either.--I don't understand myself. It is absolutely as though this coat does it--but I can't command you now. And since the Count spoke to me-- --I can't account for it--but oh, it is that d.a.m.ned servant in my back--I believe if the Count came in here now and told me to cut my throat I would do it on the spot.

JULIE. Make believe you are he--and I you. You could act so well a little while ago when you knelt at my feet. Then you were a n.o.bleman--or haven't you ever been at the theatre and seen the hypnotist--[Jean nods] He says to his subject "Take the broom," and he takes it; he says, "Sweep," and he sweeps.

JEAN. Then the subject must be asleep!

JULIE [Ecstatically]. I sleep already. The whole room is like smoke before me--and you are like a tall black stove, like a man clad in black clothes with a high hat; and your eyes gleam like the hot coals when the fire is dying; and your face a white spot like fallen ashes. [The suns.h.i.+ne is coming in through the windows and falls on Jean. Julie rubs her hands as though warming them before a fire]. It is so warm and good--and so bright and quiet!

JEAN [Takes razor and puts it in her hand]. There is the broom, go now while it's bright--out to the hay loft--and--[He whispers in her ear.]

JULIE [Rousing herself]. Thanks. And now I go to rest. But tell me this--the foremost may receive the gift of Grace? Say it, even if you don't believe it.

JEAN. The foremost? No, I can't say that. But wait, Miss Julie--you are no longer among the foremost since you are of the lowliest.

JULIE. That's true, I am the lowliest--the lowliest of the lowly. Oh, now I can't go. Tell me once more that I must go.

JEAN. No, now I cannot either--I cannot.

JULIE. And the first shall be last-- -- --

JEAN. Don't think. You take my strength from me, too, so that I become cowardly.--What-- --I thought I heard the bell!-- -- No! To be afraid of the sound of a bell! But it's not the bell--it's someone behind the bell, the hand that sets the bell in motion--and something else that sets the hand in motion. But stop your ears, stop your ears. Then he will only ring louder and keep on ringing until it's answered--and then it is too late! Then come the police and then--[Two loud rings on bell are heard, Jean falls in a heap for a moment, but straightens up immediately.] It is horrible! But there is no other way. Go!

[Countess Julie goes out resolutely.]

CURTAIN.

THE OUTLAW

CHARACTERS

THORFINN, Erl of Iceland VALGERD, his wife GUNLoD, their daughter GUNNAR, a Crusader ORM, a minstrel, foster brother to Thorfinn A THRALL A MESSENGER