Henry IV
(Enrico Quarto)
ACT III
The throne room so dark that
the wall at the bottom is hardly
seen. The canvasses of the two
portraits have been taken away;
and, within their frames, Frida,
dressed as the "Marchioness of
Tuscany" and Charles Di Nolli,
as "Henry IV.," have taken the
exact positions of the portraits.
For a moment, after the
raising of curtain, the stage is
empty. Then the door on the left
opens; and Henry IV., holding
the lamp by the ring on top of
it, enters. He looks back to
speak to the four young men who,
with John, are presumedly in the
adjoining hall, as at the end of
the second act.
HENRY IV. No: stay where you
are, stay where you are. I shall
manage all right by myself. Good
night! (Closes the door and
walks, very sad and tired,
across the hall towards the
second door on the right, which
leads into his apartments).
FRIDA (as soon as she sees
that he has just passed the
throne, whispers from the niche
like one who is on the point of
fainting away with fright).
Henry . . .
HENRY IV. (stopping at the
voice, as if someone had stabbed
him traitorously in the back,
turns a terror-stricken face
towards the wall at the bottom
of the room; raising an arm
instinctively, as if to defend
himself and ward off a blow).
Who is calling me? (It is not
a question, but an exclamation
vibrating with terror, which
does not expect a reply from the
darkness and the terrible
silence of the hall, which
suddenly fills him with the
suspicion that he is really mad).
FRIDA (at his shudder of
terror, is herself not less
frightened at the part she is
playing, and repeats a little
more loudly). Henry! . . . (But,
although she wishes to act the
part as they have given it to
her, she stretches her head a
little out of the frame towards
the other frame).
HENRY IV. (Gives a dreadful
cry; lets the lamp fall from his
hands to cover his head with his
arms, and makes a movement as if
to run away).
FRIDA (jumping from the frame
on to the stand and shouting
like a mad woman). Henry! .
. . Henry! . . . I'm afraid! . .
. I'm terrified! . . .
(And while Di Nolli jumps in
turn on to the stand and thence
to the floor and runs to Frida
who, on the verge of fainting,
continues to cry out, the Doctor,
Donna Matilda, also dressed as "Matilda
of Tuscany," Tito Belcredi,
Landolph, Berthold and John
enter the hall from the doors on
the right and on the left. One
of them turns on the light: a
strange light coming from lamps
hidden in the ceiling so that
only the upper part of the stage
is well lighted. The others
without taking notice of Henry
IV, who looks on astonished by
the unexpected inrush, after the
moment of terror which still
causes him to tremble, run
anxiously to support and comfort
the still shaking Frida, who is
moaning in the arms of her
fiancé. All are speaking at the
same time.)
DI NOLLI. No, no, Frida . . .
Here I am . . . I am beside you!
DOCTOR (coming with the
others). Enough! Enough!
There's nothing more to be done!
. . .
DONNA MATILDA. He is cured,
Frida. Look! He is cured! Don't
you see?
DI NOLLI (astonished).
Cured?
BELCREDI. It was only for fun!
Be calm!
FRIDA. No! I am afraid! I am
afraid!
DONNA MATILDA. Afraid of what?
Look at him! He was never mad at
all! . . .
DI NOLLI. That isn't true! What
are you saying? Cured?
DOCTOR. It appears so. I should
say so . . .
BELCREDI. Yes, yes! They have
told us so (pointing to the
four young men).
DONNA MATILDA. Yes, for a long
time! He has confided in them,
told them the truth!
DI NOLLI (now in ore
indignant than astonished).
But what does it mean? If, up to
a short time ago . . .
BELCREDI. Hum! He was acting, to
take you in and also us, who in
good faith . . .
DI NOLLI. Is it possible? To
deceive his sister, also, right
up to the time of her death?
HENRY IV. (Remains apart,
peering at one and now at the
other under the accusation and
the mockery of what all believe
to be a cruel joke of his, which
is now revealed. He has shown by
the flashing of his eyes that he
is meditating a revenge, which
his violent contempt prevents
him from defining clearly, as
yet. Stung to the quick and with
a clear idea of accepting the
fiction they have insidiously
worked up as true, he bursts
forth at this point) : Go
on, I say! Go on!
DI NOLLI (astonished at the
cry). Go on! What do you
mean?
HENRY IV. It isn't your sister
only that is dead!
DI NOLLI. My sister? Yours, I
say, whom you compelled up to
the last moment, to present
herself here as your mother
Agnes!
HENRY IV. And was she not your
mother?
DI NOLLI. My mother? Certainly
my mother!
HENRY IV. But your mother is
dead for me, old and far away!
You have just got down now from
there (pointing to the frame
from which he jumped down).
And how do you know whether I
have not wept her long in
secret, dressed even as I am?
DONNA MATILDA (dismayed,
looking at the others). What
does he say? (Much impressed,
observing him). Quietly!
quietly, for Heaven's sake!
HENRY IV. What do I say? I ask
all of you if Agnes was not the
mother of Henry IV? (Turns to
Frida as if she were really the
Marchioness of Tuscany) :
You, Marchioness, it seems to
me, ought to know.
FRIDA (still frightened,
draws closer to Di Nolli).
No, no, I don't know. Not I!
DOCTOR. It's the madness
returning. . . . Quiet now,
everybody!
BELCREDI (indignant).
Madness indeed, doctor! He's
acting again! . . .
HENRY IV. (suddenly). I?
You have emptied those two
frames over there, and he stands
before my eyes as Henry IV. . .
.
BELCREDI. We've had enough of
this joke now. HENRY IV. Who
said joke?
DOCTOR (loudly to Belcredi).
Don't excite him, for the love
of God!
BELCREDI (without lending an
ear to him, but speaking louder).
But they have said so (pointing
again to the four young men),
they, they!
HENRY IV. (turning round and
looking at them). You? Did
you say it was all a joke?
LANDOLPH (timid and
embarrassed). No . . .
really we said that you were
cured.
BELCREDI. Look here! Enough of
this! (To Donna Matilda)
: Doesn't it seem to you that
the sight of him (pointing to
Di Nolli), Marchioness and
that of your daughter dressed
so, is becoming an intolerable
puerility?
DONNA MATILDA. Oh, be quiet!
What does the dress matter, if
he is cured?
HENRY IV. Cured, yes! I am cured!
(To Belcredi) ah. but not
to let it end this way all at
once, as you suppose! (Attacks
him). Do you know that for
twenty years nobody has ever
dared to appear before me here
like you and that gentleman (pointing
to the doctor)?
BELCREDI. Of course I know it.
As a matter of fact, I too
appeared before you this morning
dressed . . .
HENRY IV. As a monk, yes!
BELCREDI. And you took me for
Peter Damiani! And I didn't even
laugh, believing, in fact, that
. . .
HENRY IV. That I was mad! Does
it make you laugh seeing her
like that, now that I am cured?
And yet you might have
remembered that in my eyes her
appearance now . . . (interrupts
himself with a gesture of
contempt) Ah! (Suddenly
turns to the doctor) : You
are a doctor, aren't you?
DOCTOR. Yes.
HENRY IV. And you also took part
in dressing her up as the
Marchioness of Tuscany? To
prepare a counter-joke for me
here, eh?
DONNA MATILDA (impetuously).
No, no! What do you say? It was
done for you! I did it for your
sake.
DOCTOR (quickly). To
attempt, to try, not knowing . .
.
HENRY IV. (cutting him short).
I understand. I say counter-joke,
in his case (indicates
Belcredi), because he
believes that I have been
carrying on a jest . . .
BELCREDI. But excuse me, what do
you mean? You say yourself you
are cured.
HENRY IV. Let me speak! (To
the doctor): Do you know,
doctor, that for a moment you
ran the risk of making me mad
again? By God, to make the
portraits speak; to make them
jump alive out of their frames .
. .
DOCTOR. But you saw that all of
us ran in at once, as soon as
they told us . . .
HENRY IV. Certainly! (Contemplates
Frida and Di Nolli, and then
looks at the Marchioness, and
finally at his own costume).
The combination is very
beautiful . . . Two couples . .
. Very good, very good, doctor!
For a madman, not bad! . . . (With
a slight wave of his hand to
Belcredi) It seems to him
now to be a carnival out of
season, eh? (Turns to look at
him). We'll get rid now of
this masquerade costume of mine,
so that I may come away with you.
What do you say?
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BELCREDI. With me? With us?
HENRY IV. Where shall we go? To the
Club? In dress coats and with white
ties? Or shall both of us go to the
Marchioness' house?
BELCREDI. Wherever you like! Do you
want to remain here still, to
continue -- alone -- what was
nothing but the unfortunate joke of
a day of carnival? It is really
incredible, incredible how you have
been able to do all this, freed from
the disaster that befell you!
HENRY IV. Yes, you see how it was!
The fact is that falling from my
horse and striking my head as I did,
I was really mad for I know not how
long . . .
DOCTOR. Ah! Did it last long?
HENRY IV. (very quickly to the
doctor). Yes, doctor, a long
time! I think it must have been
about twelve years. (Then
suddenly turning to speak to
Belcredi): Thus I saw nothing,
my dear fellow, of all that, after
that day of carnival, happened for
you but not for me: how things
changed, how my friends deceived me,
how my place was taken by another,
and all the rest of it! And suppose
my place had been taken in the heart
of the woman I loved? . . . And how
should I know who was dead or who
had disappeared? . . . All this, you
know, wasn't exactly a jest for me,
as it seems to you . . .
BELCREDI. No, no! I don't mean that
if you please. I mean after . . .
HENRY IV. Ah, yes? After? One day (stops
and addresses the doctor) -- A
most interesting case, doctor! Study
me well! Study me carefully (trembles
while speaking)! All by itself,
who knows how, one day the trouble
here (touches his forehead)
mended. Little by little, I open my
eyes, and at first I don't know
whether I am asleep or awake. Then I
know I am awake. I touch this thing
and that; I see clearly again . . .
Ah ! -- then, as he says (alludes
to Belcredi) away, away with
this masquerade, this incubus! Let's
open the windows, breathe life once
again! Away! Away! Let's run out! (Suddenly
pulling himself up). But where?
And to do what? To show myself to
all, secretly, as Henry IV., not
like this, but arm in arm with you,
among my dear friends?
BELCREDI. What are you saying?
DONNA MATILDA. Who could think it?
It's not to be imagined. It was an
accident.
HENRY IV. They all said I was mad
before. (To Belcredi): And
you know it! You were more ferocious
than any one against those who tried
to defend me.
BELCREDI. Oh, that was only a joke!
HENRY IV. Look at my hair! (Shows
him the hair on the nape of his neck).
BELCREDI. But mine is grey too!
HENRY IV. Yes, with this difference:
that mine went grey here, as Henry
IV., do you understand? And I never
knew it! I perceived it all of a
sudden, one day, when I opened my
eyes; and I was terrified because I
understood at once that not only had
my hair gone grey, but that I was
all grey, inside; that everything
had fallen to pieces, that
everything was finished; and I was
going to arrive, hungry as a wolf,
at a banquet which had already been
cleared away . . .
BELCREDI. Yes, but, what about the
others? . . .
HENRY IV. (quickly). Ah, yes,
I know! They couldn't wait until I
was cured, not even those, who,
behind my back, pricked my saddled
horse till it bled. . . .
DI NOLLI (agitated). What,
what?
HENRY IV. Yes, treacherously, to
make it rear and cause me to fall.
DONNA MATILDA (quickly, in horror).
This is the first time I knew that.
HENRY IV. That was also a joke,
probably!
DONNA MATILDA. But who did it? Who
was behind us, then?
HENRY IV. It doesn't matter who it
was. All those that went on feasting
and were ready to leave me their
scrapings, Marchioness, of miserable
pity, or some dirty remnant of
remorse in the filthy plate! Thanks!
(Turning quickly to the doctor)
: Now doctor, the case must be
absolutely new in the history of
madness; I preferred to remain mad
-- since I found everything ready
and at my disposal for this new
exquisite fantasy. I would live it
-- this madness of mine -- with the
most lucid consciousness; and thus
revenge myself on the brutality of a
stone which had dinted my head. The
solitude -- this solitude -- squalid
and empty as it appeared to me when
I opened my eyes again -- I
determined to deck it out with all
the colours and splendors of that
far off day of carnival, when you (looks
at Donna Matilda and points Frida
out to her) when you,
Marchioness, triumphed. So I would
oblige all those who were around me
to follow, by God, at my orders that
famous pageant which had been -- for
you and not for me-the jest of a day.
I would make it become-for ever --
no more a joke but a reality, the
reality of a real madness: here, all
in masquerade, with throne room, and
these my four secret counsellors:
secret and, of course, traitors. (He
turns quickly towards them). I
should like to know what you have
gained by revealing the fact that I
was cured! If I am cured, there's no
longer any need of you, and you will
be discharged! To give anyone one's
confidence . . . that is really the
act of a madman. But now I accuse
you in my turn (turning to the
others)! Do you know? They
thought (alludes to the valets)
they could make fun of me too with
you (bursts out laughing. The
others laugh, but shamefacedly,
except Donna Matilda).
BELCREDI (to Di Nolli). Well,
imagine that . . . That's not bad .
. .
DI NOLLI (to the four young men).
You?
HENRY IV. We must pardon them. This
dress (plucking his dress)
which is for me the evident,
involuntary caricature of that other
continuous, everlasting masquerade,
of which we are the involuntary
puppets (indicates Belcredi),
when, without knowing it, we mask
ourselves with that which we appear
to be . . . ah, that dress of
theirs, this masquerade of theirs,
of course, we must forgive it them,
since they do not yet see it is
identical with themselves . . . (Turning
again to Belcredi) : You know,
it is quite easy to get accustomed
to it. One walks about as a tragic
character, just as if it were
nothing . . . (Imitates the
tragic manner) in a room like
this . . . Look here, doctor! I
remember a priest, certainly Irish,
a nice-looking priest, who was
sleeping in the sun one November
day, with his arm on the corner of
the bench of a public garden. He was
lost in the golden delight of the
mild sunny air which must have
seemed for him almost summery. One
may be sure that in that moment he
did not know any more that he was a
priest, or even where he was. He was
dreaming . . . A little boy passed
with a flower in his hand. He
touched the priest with it here on
the neck. I saw him open his
laughing eyes, while all his mouth
smiled with the beauty of his dream.
He was forgetful of everything . . .
But all at once, he pulled himself
together, and stretched out his
priest's cassock; and there came
back to his eyes the same
seriousness which you have seen in
mine; because the Irish priests
defend the seriousness of their
Catholic faith with the same zeal
with which I defend the secret
rights of hereditary monarchy! I am
cured, gentlemen: because I can act
the mad man to perfection, here; and
I do it very quietly, I'm only sorry
for you that have to live your
madness so agitatedly, without
knowing it or seeing it.
BELCREDI. It comes to this, then,
that it is we who are mad. That's
what it is!
HENRY IV. (containing his
irritation). But if you weren't
mad, both you and she (indicating
the Marchioness) would you have
come here to see me?
BELCREDI. To tell the truth, I came
here believing that you were the
madman.
HENRY IV. (suddenly indicating
the Marchioness). And she?
BELCREDI. Ah, as for her . . . I
can't say. I see she is all
fascinated by your words, by this
conscious madness of yours. (Turns
to her). Dressed as you are (speaking
to her), you could even remain
here to live it out, Marchioness.
DONNA MATILDA. You are insolent!
HENRY IV. (conciliatingly).
No, Marchioness, what he means to
say is that the miracle would be
complete, according to him, with you
here, who -- as the Marchioness of
Tuscany, you well know, -- could not
be my friend, save, as at Canossa,
to give me a little pity . . .
BELCREDI. Or even more than a little!
She said so herself!
HENRY IV. (to the Marchioness,
continuing). And even, shall we
say, a little remorse! . . .
BELCREDI. Yes, that too she has
admitted.
DONNA MATILDA (angry). Now
look here . . .
HENRY IV. (quickly, to placate
her). Don't bother about him!
Don't mind him! Let him go on
infuriating me -- though the
doctor's told him not to. (Turns
to Belcredi.): But do you
suppose I am going to trouble myself
any more about what happened between
us -- the share you had in my
misfortune with her (indicates
the Marchioness to him and, pointing
Belcredi out to her) : the part
he has now in your life? This is my
life! Quite a different thing from
your life! Your life, the life in
which you have grown old -- I have
not lived that life (to Donna
Matilda). Was this what you
wanted to show me with this
sacrifice of yours, dressing
yourself up like this, according to
the Doctor's idea? Excellently done,
doctor! Oh, an excellent idea: --
"As we were then, eh? and as we are
now?" But I am not a madman
according to your way of thinking,
doctor. I know very well that that
man there (indicates Di Nolli)
cannot be me; because I am Henry IV.,
and have been, these twenty years,
cast in this eternal masquerade. She
has lived these years (indicates
the Marchioness) ! She has
enjoyed them and has become -- look
at her ! -- a woman I can no longer
recognize. It is so that I knew her
(points to Frida and draws near
her)! This is the Marchioness I
know, always this one! . . . You
seem a lot of children to be so
easily frightened by me . . . (To
Frida) : And you're frightened
too, little girl, aren't you, by the
jest that they made you take part in
-- though they didn't understand it
wouldn't be the jest they meant it
to be, for me? Oh miracle of
miracles! Prodigy of prodigies! The
dream alive in you! More than alive
in you! It was an image that wavered
there and they've made you come to
life! Oh, mine! You're mine, mine,
mine, in my own right! (He holds
her in his arms, laughing like a
madman, while all stand still
terrified. Then as they advance to
tear Frida from his arms, he becomes
furious, terrible and cries
imperiously to his valets) :
Hold them! Hold them! I order you to
hold them!
(The four young men amazed, yet
fascinated, move to execute his
orders, automatically, and seize Di
Nolli, the doctor, and Belcredi.)
BELCREDI (freeing himself).
Leave her alone! Leave her alone!
You're no madman!
HENRY IV. (In a flash draws the
sword from the side of Landolph, who
is close to him). I'm not mad,
eh! Take that, you! . . . (Drives
sword into him. A cry of horror goes
up. All rush over to assist Belcredi,
crying out together)
DI NOLLI. Has he wounded you?
BERTHOLD. Yes, yes, seriously!
DOCTOR. I told you so!
FRIDA. Oh God, oh God!
DI NOLLI. Frida, come here!
DONNA MATILDA. He's mad, mad!
DI NOLLI. Hold him!
BELCREDI (while they take him
away by the left exit, he protests
as he is borne out). No, no, you're
not mad! You're not mad. He's not
mad!
(They go out by the left amid
cries and excitement. After a
moment, one hears a still sharper,
more piercing cry from Donna Matilda,
and then, silence).
HENRY IV. (who has remained on
the stage between Landolph, Harold
and Ordulph, with his eyes almost
starting out of his head, terrified
by the life of his own masquerade
which has driven him to crime).
Ah now . . . yes now . . .
inevitably (calls his valets
around him as if to protect him)
here together . . . here together .
. . for ever . . . for ever.
Curtain
NOTE TO "HENRY IV."
With the author's consent and
approval, the translator has omitted
a few lines from the original
Italian where their highly
parenthetical character made the
English version unnecessarily
complex. One or two allusions have
also been suppressed since they have
not the same value in English as in
Italian. -- E. S.
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