THE GREAT GALEOTO
A monologue from the
play by Jose
Echegaray
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Masterpieces of Modern Spanish Drama. Ed. Barrett
H. Clark. New York: Duffield & Co., 1917. |
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ERNESTO: Let Julian say what he likes, I am not going
to give up my undertaking. It would be rank cowardice. No, I
will not retreat. Forward! Night, lend me your protection, for
against your blackness the luminous outlines of my inspiration
are defined more clearly than against the blue cloak of day.
Lift up your roofs, ye thousand of houses in this mighty city;
for surely you should do as much for a poet in distress as for
that crooked devil who mischievously lifted your tops off. Let
me see the men and women coming back to your rooms to rest after
the busy hours of pleasure-seeking. As my ears become more sensitive,
let them distinguish the many words of those who were asking
Julian and Teodora about me; and as a great light is made from
scattered rays when they are gathered into a crystal lens, as
the mountains are formed from grains of sand and the sea from
drops of water, so from your chance words, your stray smiles,
your idle glances, from a thousand trivial thoughts which you
have left scattered in cafés, in theaters, in ball-rooms,
and which are now floating in the air, I shall shape my drama,
and the crystal of my mind shall be the lens that brings to a
focus the lights and shadows, so that from them shall result
the dramatic spark and the tragic explosion. My drama is taking
shape. Now it has a title, for there in the lamplight I see the
work of the immortal Florentine poet, and in Italian it has given
me the name which it would be madness or folly to write or speak
in plain Spanish. Paolo and Francesca, may your love help me!
[Sitting down at the table and beginning to write.] The
play! The play begins! The first page is no longer blank. [Writing.]
Now it has a title. [Writes madly.] The Great Galeoto!
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY JOSE ECHEGARAY |
