Chapter VII: 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 fiance. 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 more 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?

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.

RIGHT YOU ARE! (IF YOU THINK SO)

(_Così è, se vi pare!_)

A PARABLE IN THREE ACTS

BY

LUIGI PIRANDELLO

TRANSLATED BY

ARTHUR LIVINGSTON

CHARACTERS

LAMBERTO LAUDISI. SIGNORA FROLA. PONZA,
SON-IN-LAW OF SIGNORA FROLA. SIGNORA
PONZA, PONZA'S WIFE. COMMENDATORE
AGAZZI, A PROVINCIAL COUNCILLOR.
AMALIA, HIS WIFE. DINA, THEIR DAUGHTER.
SIRELLI. SIGNORA SIRELLI, HIS WIFE. THE
PREFECT. CENTURI, A POLICE
COMMISSIONER. SIGNORA CINI. SIGNORA
NENNI. A BUTLER. A NUMBER OF GENTLEMEN
AND LADIES.

OUR OWN TIMES, IN A SMALL ITALIAN TOWN,
THE CAPITAL OF A PROVINCE.

RIGHT YOU ARE! (IF YOU THINK SO)