Three Plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author, Henry IV, The Mountain Giants (Oxford World's Classics) (22 page)

BERTHOLD
. Must I stay?

Without answering him
,
DI NOLLI, FRIDA
,
and
BELCREDI
escape through the main door, leaving
BERTHOLD
uncertain and bewildered. The right door opens and
LANDOLPH
enters first, bowing immediately as he is followed by
LADY MATILDA
,
wearing the same gown and ducal coronet as in Act One, and the
DOCTOR
in the habit of the Abbot of Cluny. Between them, in his regal robes, is
HENRY IV
.
Last come
ORDULPH
and
HAROLD
.

HENRY IV
[
continuing a speech presumably begun in the throne room
]. And I ask you, how can I be cunning if you think I’m being stubborn?

DOCTOR
. No, not stubborn, surely not.

HENRY IV
[
with a satisfied smile
]. So you think I really am cunning?

DOCTOR
. No. Neither stubborn nor cunning.

HENRY IV
[
stopping and protesting; like someone pointing out, benevolently yet also ironically, that something does not make sense
]. Monsignor! If stubbornness is a vice that cannot coexist with cunning, I had hoped that in denying me one, you would grant me at least a little of the other. I can assure you that I am in great need of some cunning. But if you want to keep it all for yourself …

DOCTOR
. What? Me? Do I strike you as cunning?

HENRY IV
. No, Monsignor. What a question! Far from it. [
Breaking off in order to speak to
LADY MATILDA
] If you don’t mind, just a word in private to my lady the Duchess. [
He leads her aside and asks her in an anxious and highly secretive way
] Is your daughter truly dear to you?

LADY MATILDA
[
perplexed
]. Yes, of course.

HENRY IV
. And you want me to give her all my love, all my devotion, to make up for the grave wrongs I’ve done her? Though you mustn’t believe in the debauchery that my friends accuse me of.

LADY MATILDA
. No, I don’t believe it. I’ve never believed it.

HENRY IV
. So you do want it?

LADY MATILDA
[
still perplexed
]. Want what?

HENRY IV
. Want me to start loving your daughter again. [
He looks at her and quickly adds in a mysterious warning tone
] Don’t make friends with her, don’t make friends with the Countess of Tuscany.

LADY MATILDA
. But I tell you again that she begged and beseeched to obtain that pardon for you, no less than we did.

HENRY IV
[
in a rapid, trembling whisper
]. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me that. By heavens, my lady, can’t you see how it affects me?

LADY MATILDA
[
looks at him, then in a low intimate tone
]. Do you still love her?

HENRY IV
[
dismayed
]. Still? You say ‘still’? So perhaps you know? Nobody knows. Nobody must know.

LADY MATILDA
. But maybe she does, yes, maybe she knows, since she pleaded for you with such fervour.

HENRY IV
[
looks at her for a moment and then says
]. And do you love your daughter? [
A brief pause before he addresses the
DOCTOR
in
a jocular tone
] Ah, Monsignor, this wife of mine—it was late, too late, before I knew I had a wife. And even now, yes, I know I have her; there’s no doubt that I have her—but I could swear to you that I hardly ever think of her. It may be a sin, but I simply don’t feel her in my heart. What’s strange, however, is that even her mother doesn’t feel her in her heart. Confess, my lady, that you care very little about her. [
Turning to the
DOCTOR
,
exasperated
] She keeps speaking to me about the other one [
increasingly agitated
] with an insistence that I simply can’t explain.

LANDOLPH
[
humbly
]. Perhaps, Majesty, to correct a negative opinion that you may have formed in regard to the Countess of Tuscany. [
Fearful because he has allowed himself this comment, he quickly adds
] Of course, I mean now, at this time …

HENRY IV
. Because you too maintain that she has taken my part?

LANDOLPH
. Yes, at this specific time, yes, Your Majesty.

LADY MATILDA
. There, that’s exactly why …

HENRY IV
. I understand. It means you don’t believe that I love her. I understand. I understand. Nobody has ever believed it, or even suspected it. So much the better! Enough. Enough. [
He breaks off and turns to the
DOCTOR
with an entirely different manner and expression
] Monsignor, do you realize? The conditions the Pope has attached to the lifting of my excommunication have absolutely nothing to do with the reason why he excommunicated me in the first place. Tell Pope Gregory that we shall meet again at Brixen. And you, my lady, if by any chance you meet your daughter down in the courtyard of this castle, the castle of your friend the Countess—what can I say? Have her come up, we shall see if I manage to hold her close by my side as wife and Empress. Many women have come here, assuring me, claiming to be her—and I, knowing she’s mine—yes, sometimes I even tried—(Nothing shameful in that: it’s with my wife, after all!)—Now I don’t know why it is, but all of them started to laugh as soon as they told me they were Bertha and from Susa. [
Confidentially
] You know what I mean—in bed; me without this robe, and her too, yes, for God’s sake, naked, just a man and a woman, it’s natural! You don’t think anymore about who you are. The cast-off robe hangs there like a ghost! [
Still confidentially to the
DOCTOR
,
but in a changed tone
] And I think, Monsignor, that in general ghosts
are basically nothing more than small disturbances of the spirit, images that we fail to confine to the realm of dreams: they show themselves also when we’re awake, in daytime, and they frighten us. I’m always so afraid at night when I see them before my eyes—so many disordered images, dismounted from their horses and laughing. Sometimes I’m even afraid of my own blood pulsing in my veins like the dull thud of steps in distant rooms during the silence of the night … Enough! I’ve kept you standing here too long. Ever your servant, my lady; my respects, Monsignor.

He accompanies them to the threshold of the main door where he takes leave of them as they bow in return
.
LADY MATILDA
and the
DOCTOR
go out. He closes the door behind them and then turns, suddenly changed
.

HENRY IV
. Clowns! Clowns! Clowns! A whole keyboard of colours. As soon as I played her, white, red, yellow, green … And that other one there, Peter Damian. Ah, I got him all right. Perfect. He was too scared to show himself again.

He says this in a sudden frenzy of joy, pacing to and fro, his glance darting here and there, until it suddenly falls on
BERTHOLD
,
who is more terrified than stunned by the sudden change
.
HENRY IV
stops in front of him and points him out to his three companions who also seem lost and astounded
.

HENRY IV
. Now look at this idiot here who’s standing and staring at me with his mouth open. [
He shakes him by the shoulders
] Don’t you understand? Don’t you see how I dress them up, how I set them up, how I make them come before me like a bunch of frightened clowns. And they’re only scared of one thing: that I’ll tear off their silly masks and show that they’re all in disguise. As if it weren’t me who had forced them to wear masks in the first place, to satisfy my taste for playing the madman!

LANDOLPH, HAROLD, ORDULPH
[
confused, in shock, looking at each other
]. What! What’s he saying? Does it mean that …?

HENRY IV
[
at these exclamations, turns suddenly with an imperious shout
]. Enough! Let’s have done with it! I’m fed up! [
Then suddenly, as if, on second thoughts, he cannot let go or believe what he has seen
] By God, what insolence to come here, to me, now—along with her fancyman. And behaving as if they were doing it out of pity, so as not to madden a poor devil already out of the world, out
of time, out of life! Because otherwise just imagine whether the poor devil would put up with that kind of persecution. They go on, yes, every day, every moment, expecting others to be the way they want them. But this isn’t persecution! No, no. It’s the way they think, the way they feel and see: everyone has his own. And you have
your
own, don’t you, eh? Of course you do. And now what can yours be? That of the herd—wretched, fleeting, uncertain. And they take advantage of it, they make you accept and submit to theirs, so that you feel and see as they do. Or at least that’s what they tell themselves. Because, after all, what do they manage to impose? Words! Words that everyone hears and repeats in his own way. And yet that’s how what they call common ideas take shape. And Lord help the man who one fine day finds himself stamped with one of those words that everybody repeats! For example: ‘madman’. For example, let’s say, ‘imbecile’. Well, you tell me how a man can sit there quietly, knowing that there’s someone who’s busy persuading others that you’re the way he sees you, fixing his judgement of you in their minds? ‘Madman’, ‘madman’! Now I’m not saying that I do it as a joke. Before, before I hit my head falling from the horse … [
He stops short, seeing how nervous the four of them are, more shocked and confused than ever
] You look each other in the eyes? [
With gross mimicry of their amazement
] Ah, yes, What a revelation! Am I or am I not? Ah, come on, yes, I’m mad! [
With a formidable air
] Well then, down on your knees, by God! Down on your knees! [
One by one, he forces them to kneel
] I command you all to kneel before me—like that. And touch the ground three times with your forehead. Down, all of you! That’s how everyone should be before the mad! [
At the sight of the four of them on their knees, his ferocious gaiety suddenly evaporates, much to his annoyance
] All right, up you get, you sheep! So you obeyed me? You could have put me in a straitjacket … To crush someone with the weight of a word. Nothing to it! What is it? Swatting a fly! All life is crushed like that under the weight of words. The weight of the dead.—Look at me here: can you seriously believe that Henry IV is still alive? And yet here I am, speaking and giving orders to you, the living. This is the way I want you! Do you think this is a joke as well, that the dead go on acting out life? Yes, here it’s a joke: but go out from here, into the living world. Day is breaking. Time lies before you. Dawn. This day ahead of us, you say, we shall be
the ones who make it. Oh yes? You will? Goodbye to all traditions! Goodbye to all the old customs and costumes! Start talking and you’ll repeat all the words that have always been said. You think you’re alive, but you’ll be chewing over the life of the dead! [
He stops in front of
BERTHOLD
,
by now completely dumbfounded
] You don’t understand a thing, do you? What’s your name?

BERTHOLD
. Me? Er … Berthold.

HENRY IV
. Don’t give me Berthold, you fool. Here, just between us, what’s your name?

BERTHOLD
. My re … my real name is Fino.

HENRY IV
[
turning to silence the other three with a slight warning gesture
]. Fino?

BERTHOLD
. Fino Pagliuca, yessir.

HENRY IV
[
turning back to the others
]. Yes, I’ve heard the names you give each other, so many times. [
To
LANDOLPH
] Are you Lolo?

LANDOLPH
. Yes, sir. [
Then, with a joyful start
] Oh my God, but then?

HENRY IV
[
rapid, brusque
]. Then what?

LANDOLPH
[
turning pale
]. No … I mean …

HENRY IV
. That I’m no longer mad? Of course I’m not. Can’t you see? We’re playing a joke on those who think I am. [
To
HAROLD
] I know you’re called Franco. [
To
ORDULPH
] And you, wait …

ORDULPH
. Momo.

HENRY IV
. That’s it. Momo. Splendid, isn’t it?

LANDOLPH
. But then, oh God …

HENRY IV
. Then nothing. Let’s sit here and have one good, long, enormous laugh. [
He laughs
] Haha, haha, haha!

LANDOLPH, HAROLD, ORDULPH
[
looking at each other, uncertain, torn between joy and consternation
]. Is he cured? Can it be true? What’s going on?

HENRY IV
. Quiet! Quiet! [
To
BERTHOLD
] You’re not laughing. Are you still offended? Don’t be. I didn’t mean you, you know. It suits everyone, you see. It suits everyone to convince others that certain people are mad, so there’s a good excuse for keeping them locked up. Do you know why? Because it’s unbearable to hear them speak. What do I say about those people who have just left? That one is a
whore, that the other is a filthy libertine, and that the third is an impostor. It’s not true. No one can believe it! Yet they all stand there listening to me, scared stiff. Now I’d like to know why, if it isn’t true. After all, you can’t believe what madmen say. And yet they stand there listening like this, wide-eyed with fear. Why? You tell me why. Look, I’m quite calm.