Tristan and Iseult; a play in four acts

Front matter

(tea TRSS^ 7

Book T&5P

CopFight N° ^ JJ ?

Act I

The scene represents a large room in the palace of the king or Ireland. There are vacant seats in the foreground on the right. In the background are two long broad steps leading to an inner room, which is seen as through the proscenium of a theatre. Women are seated just inside, working at embroidery frames. In the front is iseult of brittany, working; behind her brangaene. iseult of Ireland is standing beside her, looking at the work. As the curtain goes up, a large door on the left is opened and the queen enters. meriadoc following her as if in eager conversation. They cross to the seats and sit down, iseult of Ireland comes down the steps and across the stage, with an eager movement.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Mother, I knew that Tristan would come back.

queen.

Why not? These wandering children of the harp Follow the crying people of the air; They know their seasons, they return with them. Tristan will bring his harp into the hall

When he has rested. And now, Meriadoc, Speak on.

MERIADOC.

I say again, the time has come.

It is a year now since my father died;

He was your brother, you have loved him well,

Almost as I have loved him, and I have loved

Your daughter and my father and no more.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Why do you speak of me?

[She sits down, looking away from him.

I have said the word,

Which must return to silence. Be it so.

I speak another thing now. I desire

Vengeance for Morolt, blood for Morolt's blood.

QUEEN.

And I desire no less, yet, Meriadoc, Since no man knows the spiller of that blood, Vengeance is but an arm that smites a sword Into the empty, dark, and yielding air.

Give me but leave, and I will find the man.

QUEEN.

I will both give you leave, and give you that Which when you find him shall find out his life Surer than any hound. Here, take the key, Iseult; bring me the knife, bring it with care, You know its secret.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

I will bring it, mother.

[She goes back to the inner room, unlocks an oak chest which stands against the side wall, and takes out a sheathed dagger.

(To iseult of brittany.) What would you do

with such a cruel thing, Kind cousin Iseult?

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

Cast it in the sea,

My manly hearted cousin.

iseult of Ireland, holding it up.

Is it not strange

That men play such forbidden games with death, And we too deal the pieces? This rare thing Will find the heart some woman's heart shall break for.

[ 3 1

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

Why do you take it in your hands?

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

I? Merely

To take it to my mother.

[She carries it across to her mother, who takes it, turns it over, and as she speaks gives it to

MERIADOC.

QUEEN.

This knife I give you

Has lapped up poison night by night, and slept Under the moon, and I have watched him sleep. I give the knife to you: use it but once.

[meriadoc takes the knife and holds out the

cross-shaped hilt.

MERIADOC.

I swear upon this cross to use the knife Once, and no more. Cousin, before I go

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Cousin, no more of that.

MERIADOC.

You take me ill.

It is another thing I have to ask. L 4 ]

TKISTAN AND ISEULT

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Where do you go?

MERIADOC.

To Cornwall.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

A stern land.

You know not whom you seek; why do you go?

MERIADOC.

Give me a thing you keep.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What shall I give you?

MERIADOC.

The splinter of the sword that killed my father. Give it to me, and it shall draw the sword Out of the deadly iron of the earth Like a strong loadstone; it will know its sword.

iseult of Ireland, after a pause.

Yes, I will give it to you, Meriadoc.

[She rises and moves slowly across the stage towards the chest, which she has left open. The door is thrown open and an attend ant enters.

ATTENDANT.

Lord Tristan.

[tristan enters and walks sloioly towards the queen, iseult pauses and half turns, with her hand on the lid of the chest, looking fixedly

at TRISTAN.

queen.

In the name of both our lands, Welcome. A year seems but a day and night, And I some easy sleeper, since we heard The voices of your harp among our own.

TRISTAN.

Madam, the heaped good wishes of a year, Longer in absence than its counted days, Crowd back each other, asking to be first.

[He turns towards iseult, who has slowly

approached.

Princess, I buy my welcome at your hands With songs that I have made for you to sing; You loved them once.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

I am your pupil still.

[She goes towards meriadoc as if unconscious of her intention.

MERIADOC.

Iseult! the gift!

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What was it? I forget.

[She stands gazing at tristan in silence.

QUEEN.

Was the sea fair in coming?

TRISTAN.

Fair and fierce.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

The sea is friends with you. \

TRISTAN.

I follow it:

I have no other will than the sea's will.

QUEEN.

My daughter, sit beside me. You, my lord. Here.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

I must have Iseult of the White Hands. Come, cousin, leave the armour of the knight: It is but wool upon a frame; but here Is the true knight; come down and welcome him. [ 7 ]

[iseult of brittaxy rises slowly, lays down the wool on her embroidery frame, and comes slowly across the stage. The others follow her. tristax rises and bows low.

TRISTAN.

I have called off your fingers from some dream That you were weaving.

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

I was only weaving

A knight in armour, dying; there is grass,

An apple orchard, birds singing, and sheep.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Have you not such a story in your songs? But not so fair a lady in your land As this that bears my name!

TRISTAN.

Few quite so fair,

For she is fair, yet not as Helen was,

Not as you are.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What is Helen, sir, to me?

But this white cousin Iseult of my name,

Read me this woman, Tristan; read her soul; Look in her eyes and tell me what she is.

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

I pray you do not tell me what you see.

TRISTAN.

She has the face of one who is content, Making a little last with loving it.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Is patience, then, the nurse of love? God keep Such as are patient!

TRISTAN.

I have read as well

How earth was crumbled up for Helen's sake

And cast like crumbs to birds.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Is love so cruel?

Is it not only in the song?

QUEEN.

My daughter,

Love is more cruel than a savage beast;

Therefore fear love.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Why, how should the free soul Fear any power under the firmament? For there are women who have never feared The face of steel or face of any man Or blood or battle or the foam of the sea When the wind wrings out the sails and washes them.

TRISTAN.

It is such women that Love loves to rule.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

How should he rule them? they that do not weave A knight dying in an orchard, but they can die.

TRISTAN.

Yes, die for love: a woman can do that.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

O, any woman! more than die for love. Tristan, I had an uncle whom I loved More than I ever shall love man; this brave, This tender, more than father to me, this Glory of Ireland, was most foully slain.

[She starts to her feet.

If Morolt's murderer stood before me now As you stand there, I, woman that I am,

(Give me your sword: I do not fear to see

The nakedness of steel: give it to my hand)

[She takes Tristan's sword from him and lifts it in the air.

I would dare —

[She looks fixedly at the sword in her hand.

O, this is some witchcraft. No.

The sword, the sword, it cannot be the sword!

[She runs to the open chest, takes out the splinter, and fits it to the notch in the sword.

The sword is whole again. This sacred blood

Make my arm strong that I may drink his blood!

Die, Tristan!

[She comes towards tristan with the sword in her hand. All rise, meriadoc puts his hand on his dagger. The queen comes forward.

ISEULT OF BRITTANY, Catching ISEULT OF

Ireland and drawing her back.

Iseult, will you murder him?

If you are mad, kill me!

queen.

Is it not madness?

TRISTAN.

Strike! I am at your mercy.

QUEEN.

Stay, Iseult!

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Mother, look well upon the sword. See now, Here is the splinter of the sword that killed Morolt; see how they grow together; see The sword that Morolt died by.

QUEEN.

We have been fooled,

We have given our enemy life.

meriadoc, drawing his dagger.

You gave him life

That death may find him here.

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

No, Meriadoc.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What is it to you, Iseult of Brittany, If this man live or die? No, Meriadoc, My hand!

TRISTAN.

Iseult of Ireland, why do you wait? Your eyes have stabbed me: finish! you have the sword.

QUEEN.

Daughter, put down the sword, he is our guest.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

He has our blood upon him.

QUEEN.

He has broken

Our bread. Put down the sword. Tristan, your life

I give you; get you gone out of our gates.

No, stand aside; be silent. All of you

Stand further off and leave us two alone.

[tristan moves across the stage and stands alone, meriadoc stands apart on the other side, eyeing him. The others go out hastily. brangaene lingers by the door.

iseult of brittany, as she crosses the stage, half supported by brangaene.

What will they do to him? Save him for my sake, Brangaene !

BRANGAENE.

I do not need to; he is saved.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What shall we do, mother? Oh, mother, tell me Why could I not kill Tristan? I had the will, And it was not your hand that stayed my hand, f 13 1

QUEEN.

Fate holds the hands of all men in the dark, And there shall not a drop of blood be shed Before its time, although we snatch up swords.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Mother, I hate him! he has spilt our blood. Why is it that my eyes follow his eyes, As a hound follows his master?

QUEEN.

Do not ask:

There is no herb against the eyes of a man,

There is no stone shall turn his eyes aside.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Mother, must we forgive our enemy And send his feet out of our house alive?

QUEEN.

He is our guest; we may not do him harm. Daughter, if I, that so loved Morolt — blood Could not wash out the tears I shed for him - Can, for the honour of our house, forgive Tristan, who slew him, can you not forgive? I do not pardon him for pity, no, But for my troth and honour. [ 14 1

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Alas, mother,

That ever I was born to see this day!

meriadoc, coming up.

O Queen, the knife is ready for his throat; Say but the word, and we are all at peace.

QUEEN.

It may not be; but yet I know not well

What must be, in this backward drift of things.

[While she is speaking, brangaene comes

forward.

BRANGAENE.

O mistress, let me speak. These things now past Are over; but what shall be, that is ours. Is not the honour of the Queen more worth Than many lives? Let the Queen's honour live. As for this knight, the kinsman of the King, It may be he has come, not without cause, But for your profit in all honour. Wait, Speak gently to him, ask him why he came, At peril of his life, back to these shores.

QUEEN.

This is well thought, Brangaene. [ 15 ]

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

He has come

To bring into our midst some kind of death. I know that if he goes out of our house Living, we shall not all live well or long. How can I hate him?

QUEEN.

Summon him, Brangaene.

[tristan comes nearer.

TRISTAN.

Madam, I see my pardon in your eyes.

I have one word to say, and then am silent

And wait your mercy. I have brought on you

Sorrow, yet of necessity. The sword

Of Morolt and my sword were in God's hands;

We fought a just and equal fight, and each

Fought for his life in peril of his death.

QUEEN.

Tristan, I pardon you, not willingly, But for my honour, being here my guest And sacred to my hearth. Here is my hand. Iseult, your hand.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Alas, that I must take My enemy's hand in mine!

[She gives him her hand.

tristan, kissing the hand of the queen.

Queen, you have given

My life to me twice over, and I have

To serve you twofold now.

(To iseult.) Princess, I hold

My faith with you from this forth.

QUEEN.

Why did you come,

Knowing that you are fatal to our house?

May I speak out?

Speak quickly.

TRISTAN.

QUEEN.

TRISTAN.

If I may speak

Freely a king's speech, and being otherwise

The enemy of a king, I will disclose

The reason of my coming, which did but wait

No more than time for telling.

QUEEN.

If you have

A friendly speech, then speak it as to friends.

TRISTAN.

I am sent hither by King Mark of Cornwall, My uncle, king of an unconquered realm, Because he knew that his best enemy, Ireland, Held the white pearl of the sea, and he desired To wed the fairest woman in the world.

QUEEN.

Is this your word or his?

TRISTAN.

It is his word.

I am his speech-bearer, and in his name

I am to ask your daughter's hand for Mark.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Who praised me to King Mark?

TRISTAN.

Not least of others, I.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Then it was a lying tongue that spoke A coward's praise.

QUEEN.

Daughter, there is no queen

Who would need wooing more than to be told

That Mark, the King of Cornwall, sought her hand.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Mother, you do wrong to women. I have known A woman who would have had gladlier A shepherd's apple from a shepherd's hand Than crowns from shaking fingers.

QUEEN.

This is not

For you or me, but for the King your father.

The safety of our land may hang upon it.

We must have counsel and the voice of the King.

Sir, we will give you instant hearing. Send,

Brangaene, quickly, to my lord the King

And crave the King's good pleasure.

BRANGAENE.

In haste, madam.

[She goes to the door and sends messengers.

QUEEN.

Sir, this must not be lightly thought upon Or idly spoken of. Weigh now your words F 19 1

And tell me: is your king ready for peace? His galleys have not often come our way With less of spears than oars.

TRISTAN.

The King desires

Peace and the marriage of two lands in one.

QUEEN.

We also desire peace; but for this marriage

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

May Iseult speak?

QUEEN.

Speak, Iseult.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

There is no king

Could give me greatness enough to fill up

The lack that he would make in me.

QUEEN.

What lack?

[brangaene comes back.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Why, nothing but the lack of my own self: I would rather be myself than be a queen. [ 20 ]

BRANGAENE.

To be a queen is to have all the world Instead of dreaming. If you had the world, What would you do with it?

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

What, you too, Brangaene?

QUEEN.

Brangaene, summon those who were in the hall.

[She goes out.

MERIADOC.

Cousin, you should have given me the sword !

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

The sword is old now, and it cannot stir, And we must wait.

[The guests re-enter , anxiously.

ISEULT OF BRITTANY, aside.

What have they done to him?

He is living yet and smiles: I saw him dead.

She talks apart, patient and angry.

r 21 i another woman, aside.

See,

The Queen looks hard at Tristan, watching him With some new purpose.

ANOTHER WOMAN.

Hush! here is the King.

[The king comes in and goes up to the queen.

queen.

My lord, a boon. I ask a boon that lies

Near to my heart and to your daughter's heart.

KING OF IRELAND.

Is not the thing you ask already yours? You are not so glad to ask as I to give. What is the boon?

QUEEN.

My lord, to pardon Tristan.

He stands before you; I am surety for him;

He killed my brother Morolt: pardon him.

KING OF IRELAND.

This is the strangest boon was ever asked. Was Morolt not your brother? Yet, so be it.

If you have pardoned Tristan, so have I. Here is my hand, sir.

tristan, kneeling and kissing his hand.

Grace, my lord the King, Grace for my lord and master.

KING OF IRELAND.

Be it so

For you, since the Queen wills it, and for him

In his own honour. Rise and sit with me.

QUEEN.

My lord, this grave and most unlooked-for thing, Which sets my brother's slayer by my side, Not at my feet, but honoured and a guest, Brings not less strange a fellow with it. This, Our enemy, comes from our enemy, King Mark of Cornwall, he that harried us, And now, being other minded, offers peace.

KING OF IRELAND.

I am well content To hold him for ally.

QUEEN.

More than ally.

He would become our kinsman, and desires [ 23 ]

To bind us to his person, and has sent His kinsman here to speak for him and ask The hand of Iseult. Will you answer him?

KING OF IRELAND.

The hand of Iseult?

TRISTAN.

Even no less, my lord.

He is a king, but he is an old man, And cannot go about the world and woo A woman to his side. He sent me here (Being so dear to him that he willed me King After him, but I would have none of it) To beg for him what, if he do not win, He will not wed.

KING OF IRELAND.

Is he so sure as that?

TRISTAN.

So sure that he has said before his lords: "I swear that if I may not have this woman I will have none."

KING OF IRELAND.

That is well spoken of him.

TRISTAN.

He said, moreover, in my private ear: "Say nothing of me, Tristan, but the truth: How old I am, how grave, not easily moved, But, being moved, unalterable; a man Not without pity, yet most just; no youth To flatter women in a ballad rhyme, Like you who speak in stanza. Tell her this And more," he said; "the truth: yet, win her, Tristan!"

KING OF IRELAND.

Spoken like a lover rather than a king. He could not ask for more, a mighty king, And would not ask for less. What have you said, My daughter?

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Nothing. I? Nothing at all.

QUEEN.

She will not answer no. Trust me, my lord, And trouble not the girl.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Spoken like a king

Rather than like a lover. He who speaks them

Speaks the words well.

[ 25 1

ISEULT OF BRITTANY.

You are to be a queen; You will be happy, Iseult.

QUEEN.

It remains

For us, my lord, to reason out this thing And, if our kingdom claims, not to deny. Were it not well to fetter Mark to us With this unbreakable and silken chain? What says my lord?

KING OF IRELAND.

I say that it were well,

A happy thing for Ireland and for Cornwall,

And the beginning of some peace in the world.

TRISTAN.

Long live the Queen of Cornwall!

[All crowd up. iseult of Ireland turns to

BRANGAENE.

ISEULT OF IRELAND.

Come with me,

Brangaene. We will talk of being queens; Not in this market, where they bid for us, But somewhere out of doors: I am faint for air.

[ They move across the stage towards the door as

the curtain falls.