The scene is a public lecture-hall. To the left rises a platform, on which stands a reading-desk. To the right are rows of chairs arranged as for an audience. In the front row of these sit four old men, patiently and silently waiting. One is reading a newspaper.
Suddenly there bursts into the hall a rout of wildly gay and dancing maskers: Harlequin, Columbine, a Pig, Pantaloon, an enormously tall Ghost, Clowns, a Skeleton, Ballet-girls, Oriental Princesses, Monks, Courtiers, Turks and Jew Pedlers. The first few attempt to draw back on seeing the chairs and the four old men; but they are pushed on by those behind. Once in, they all circle about in a crazy dance, singing over and over the same verse.
THE MASKERS
Oh, children, children, New Year's Day
Is more than half a year away.
And we might get most awful dry
If we should wait for the Fourth of July.
So let us celebrate now and here
With rah, rah, rah and a bottle of beer!
[One of the maskers, who is dressed as a clown,
raises his hands, ineffectually trying to hush the
rest.
CLOWN (shouting)
Stop! Stop! I want to teach another verse
To you before we go back to the others.
[Loud laughter. The song continues.
THE SKELETON (shouting)
Isn't one bad enough?
CLOWN
A poor thing—but
It is mine own.
THE PIG
So much the worse for you!
ONE OF THE OLD MEN (rising)
Gentlemen! There's to be a lecture here.
CLOWN
Is that all? Well, I'll give it you myself.
A MONK
Not if we see you first!
THE PIG
My God! Let's run!
SKELETON
Back! Or the others will drink all the punch!
[The mob of maskers turbulently surges out again,
leaving the hall quiet and empty except for the four
old men.
AN OLD MAN
They are a noisy lot.
SECOND OLD MAN
Yes.
THE FIRST OLD MAN
There must be
Party upstairs?
SECOND OLD MAN
Yes, I suppose there is.
FIRST OLD MAN
They begin early.
THIRD OLD MAN
Early? Yes, or late.
This is the end of last night's party, which
Began at twelve, and likely'll last till noon.
I know, for I'm the janitor.
FIRST OLD MAN
Well! Well!
[Two men enter, look around and take seats in the
chairs set for the audience. One carries a small black
surgical case; the other has a green bag under his
arm.
DOCTOR
We seem to be a little early—or
Have we made some mistake?
LAWYER
No, ten's the hour.
But I was anxious that we should be prompt,
And so have rather overdone our haste.
DOCTOR
It doesn't matter; we can wait a bit.
How curiously impatient, though, you are
To hear this talk! I personally have doubts
Whether it's worth our trouble.
LAWYER
Well, I know
The man, however slightly; you do not,
And so can hardly share my expectation.
But he has been, throughout these many years,
So secretive, so self-contained, so deep
In matters that I could not guess, that now,
When he at last promises to proclaim
Some strange discovery, I half believe
It will be worth our coming.
[Two women enter together. The younger one is
leading a child by the hand. The older, a gaunt,
spinsterly-looking figure, peers about with a near-sighted
glance.
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Take that seat.
And now be quiet.
CHILD
Mother, will he have
The Devil with him?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
I don't know. The child
Has been completely crazy since I told her
That I would bring her with me.
OLD WOMAN
I am just
A little curious myself. I learned
When I was young all that they thought was known
About the Devil; and if this Mr. Faust
Has really made some new discovery
About him, it seems well that even the young
Should be informed of it.
[A number of detached men and women enter and
take seats silently. They are followed by two
plumbers in overalls, carrying the tools of their
trade still with them.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Whew, but the boss will skin us for this trick!
OLD PLUMBER
Go, if you like. But I intend to stay.
I have not been, through seventeen long years,
Philosopher myself, now to let slip
A chance of hearing such a talk as this.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Oh, I won't go.
OLD PLUMBER
You'd better not. They say
That all the rumors wholly underrate
The real importance of his talk to-day.
I've been informed, on good authority,
That he will have the Devil on the platform
And publicly enchain him to a cart
For all of us to see.
[The two plumbers have taken their seats. A man
behind them leans forward now and interrupts them.
BUTCHER
What's that? A cart?
He means to drive the Devil as a horse?
OLD PLUMBER
Quite probably, quite probably.
BUTCHER
Well, that
Will be outrageous, in these troubled times
Of strikes and lock-outs. Without any doubt,
If he goes trying to harness up the Devil,
It will precipitate a teamsters' strike.
Using non-union horses always does.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Do you think that? Why, that would be a shame,
When times are bad already.
CHILD
Mother, Mother!
Will there be moving pictures?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
I don't know.
Don't talk so loud.
[Two prosperous-looking men enter. One is elderly,
the other young.
BANKER
Do not apologize
Now that you've brought me. As I said at first,
I am prepared to see a mountebank
Perform his pretty tricks of eloquence
To set the crowd agape. Why, once a week
The Ethical Society hires one
To work the same performance—quite the same
Each time. Unearth a few forgotten doubts,
Or dig your elbow into some new dogma,
And you will see the mob fawn at your feet,
Believing you the greatest mind since Plato.
RICH YOUNG MAN
I'm sure he isn't that kind.
BANKER
We shall see!
And afterwards, the drinks shall be on you.
[A gawky young man who has flour in his hair, and
a vivacious and pertly dressed girl enter together.
GIRL
I go to all the lectures that I can.
I do think culture is the grandest thing;
And one acquires it so easily
Nowadays that one shouldn't let it slip.
BAKER
I'd go to lectures, too, if I could go
Always with you.
GIRL
Well, now, perhaps I'll try
To educate you!
BAKER
Oh, I wish you would!
[Satan enters, dressed as an artisan. He takes a
seat in the far corner, out of sight of the platform.
Two young men enter. Both have books under their
arms.
YOUNG STUDENT
His is the subtlest mind I ever knew.
The gulfs through which he whirled bewildered me
When he would talk. So I am quite prepared
For a great treat to-day.
YOUNGER STUDENT
Oh, I forgot
My note-book. Can you tear a sheet from yours?
SATAN (to a man beside him who rises, apparently tired of waiting)
What, going? Well, I wouldn't, if I were you.
You ought to hear this: I have had a hand
In getting him to speak; and I am sure
There will be something doing.
THE MAN
Well, I'll stay,
Since you, of the committee, vouch for it.
[More people enter and take their seats.
YOUNG PLUMBER (to his companion)
What do you get by being philosopher?
I don't see how you do it. I could never
Think about nothing all the time, like you.
OLD PLUMBER
Perhaps your mind is not just made for it.
It takes a thinker, that it does. And I
Did not get into it so easy, either.
I read a lot of books before I saw
The greatness of Philosophy. Now I wonder
How I got on without it. Why, to-day
I could not clean a sewer in peace of mind
If I did not know that, when I got home,
I could philosophize on Space and Time.
YOUNG PLUMBER
It must be wonderful to know these things.
[Brander and Midge enter together. They seem to
find some difficulty in choosing their seats.
MIDGE
Are you quite sure that we can hear him here?
BRANDER
Yes; and besides, I do not wish to sit
Too near the front. I'd rather not have come
At all to-day. But you...
MIDGE
Oh, don't go back
Now on your promise! I must hear him speak.
I must, I must. I cannot tell you why;
I do not know. But I have never seen
A face that seemed to promise me so much—
Things that I cannot utter, cannot think.
BRANDER
I never want to see his face again.
I shall try not to listen.
CHILD
Mother, when
Will the show start?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Hush, very soon! Yes, see—
There he is coming in.
CHILD
Oh, goody, goody!
[Faust enters the hall and mounts the platform.
He busies himself for a moment adjusting the reading
desk; then turns toward the audience, gripping
the desk steadily, and waits a moment more for the
stir to subside.
FAUST
I come before you with unwilling lips—
Not led by eagerness, or wont of speech;
Being not of those who easily proclaim
Small miracles to move you. But the force
Of grave necessity has bid me cast
All thought save one aside, and in your midst,
Utter strange words, with lips that must obey
The soul that wills not silence.
For I come
Announcing not the common verities
Of learned books, or laboratory lore,
Or ancient heresies; as speaks the fool,
So speak I—from my heart. What I have seen,
That shall you see, and with grim gladness hold
Close in your hearts. Yes, all the world shall see it—
I am a tower burning to light the world!
(He pauses a moment, meditatively)
OLD WOMAN (whispering)
He has a good opinion of himself.
FAUST
I have beheld the toil and pain of life,
Its emptiness and defeat; I have beheld
Hearts, weary with recurrence of the days
That held no sweetness, turn in trust to where
In high aËrial spaces far from earth
God in his heaven to all the weary ones
Offers a refuge. And in such a mood
Was I, too, led toward heaven by one whom now
I know my foe—Satan. Toward God I turned,
Seeking in Him fulfilment of all hopes
That earth had thwarted. Then, in the hour of prayer
And revelation, from my deepest breast
Flashed lightnings. And I saw the Lord of Hosts
High on a mountain, inaccessible
To yearning men, who, mastered by a dream,
Turn skyward from our dark and struggling earth.
I saw the crafty Satan urging on
The heavenward-yearning myriads, while the world
Lay like a stagnant quagmire, to his sway
Wholly abandoned, and man's mortal house
Burned in fierce conflagration of corruption.
And lo! the lightnings from my heart smote forth
Across the heavens; and God dissolved like cloud,
And through the cloud peered Satan's sinister face.
Friends: God is dead; your God and mine is dead.
And Satan in his place—Satan who is
The father of the gods—lures on your hearts
Unto an idol in the untrodden skies,
That, while ye dream oblivious in the void,
The earth may crumble. Or if God there be,
He is the God of dying hearts and spent—
A deity of chaos, for whose ends
One thing alone is mete—ruin of life,
Of loathings and of longings that on earth
Restlessly grapple with the powers of Hell.
I know not if in regions yet unguessed
Some gods may dwell, of nature fit to guide
Us, the adventurers of an earthly fight.
But I have seen with eyes that cannot lie
That they reside not in this Devil's net—
This heavenly trust, this labyrinth of peace,
Which draws men on to nothingness....
And I cry
With all the passion of my baffled soul—
Cast down your God! Cast down your peace and trust
In His far Will! It is a solace mete
For slaves, not men. With bitter hand, destroy
This idol of destruction! Smite all haunts
Of faith and resignation and defeat
And rest and peace and comfort. Heaven and earth
Alike are poisoned: somnolence in heaven,
Decay on earth is regnant. Every faith
And law and nation must in wreck go down
For us who see the death that taints their halls;
And ruin shall walk reckless through the world,
Destroying tombs where life is daily slain!
(Faust pauses)
BRANDER (rises suddenly from his place in the audience)
My friends, I came to listen, not to speak.
But when such words as these from impious lips
Fall lightly, I must rise here to refute
Their poisonous message. Three days since, I stood
With this man in the sacred halls of God,
And witnessed in his heart the glory grow
Of God's bright hope. Then suddenly from Hell,
Or from his own deep, labyrinthine heart,
Sprang fiends to snatch him back from heaven's clear gate
And God's deliverance. And his bitter lips,
By thirst so nearly quenched made bitterer yet,
Cried blasphemies against the powers of heaven
And all bright starry hopes that light our days
With faith and glory. And the hand of God,
Inscrutably withheld, smote him not dumb,
But suffered him to go. Now in our sight
He rises to proclaim his searing doubt,
His hot destroying passion, and tears down
Our fairest altars. I, who was his friend,
Hereby renounce him; and in sober words
Counsel all men to flee the company
Of one who hates the great hopes of the world!
[As Brander sits down, there is some scattered applause
in the audience. Faces are turned toward him.
Midge sits motionless, her face buried in her hands.
FAUST
I scarce foresaw that my laborious task
Should profit by the aid of willing hands
So freely offered. Well, the Devil moves still
Unchained on earth; and while he toils, your toil
Is of small matter. You have ranged yourself
With things fast dying; and our feet—the feet
Of trampling hordes—shall pass above your head,
As we shall pass over all creeds and laws,
All stately chambers and respected homes
And hearths and council-halls and sleek vile marts—
We, the destroyers of destruction!
BUTCHER
Here!
Don't you go shaking any fist at me!
GIRL
I think it's awful. Someone ought to stop him.
MERCHANT'S WIFE
The man is crazy!
OLD PLUMBER
Say! Would you destroy
Space and Time, too?
YOUNG PLUMBER
Hooray for hell broke loose!
BUTCHER
Out with him! He's an anarchist!
BANKER
I'm not
Religious; but I cannot stand for that.
YOUNG STUDENT
Oh, let him have a chance!
BUTCHER
Not if I know it!
Damn such a man!
[Satan suddenly rises in his place with commanding
gestures. The people stare at him, and after a moment
are silent to hear him speak.
SATAN
My friends, I think we all—
Or most of us—agree that talk like this
Is a destructive influence, to be met
With frowns, in justice to society.
Such words disgrace humanity, affront
Respectability, and fill with shame
Our hearts for such a speaker. Yet the rogue
Requires but rope to save the law the toil
Of trial and execution. I bespeak,
Therefore, your patience for this gentleman;
Till he has time to wind the hempen knot
Securely round his throat, let us sit by
And hear him further.
FAUST
Thank you. You begin
Well in my service.
SATAN
Aye, indeed, indeed!
You don't suppose a mouse-trap baits itself?
Friends, let us hear him.
RICH YOUNG MAN
That sounds sensible.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Let each dog have his day.
OLD PLUMBER
Sit down! Shut up!
YOUNG PLUMBER
Leave me alone!
SATAN
One moment more, I pray,
Of your kind patience. Sir, ere you proceed,
I have a word to give you. I have heard
Tales of your cleverness in foiling twice
The Devil who sought to lead you to resign
Your will to his. Perhaps it was not well
That you so spurned his euthanasia.
By your own devious path, you come at last
To where all facts are vain, all visions fade,
And your old wager is a laughing-stock,
So valueless your will, so vain your power
To shape one end of hope. Life crumbles, falls,
Around you; and your kind with horror see
Your utter nakedness. But I have brought
A little present for you: not so nice
As two the Devil once offered in its place;
Yet 'twill suffice. Men who would cheat the Devil
Come, with a curious unanimity,
To where the lump of lead becomes a boon
Unto the soul rejecting easier sleep.
The Devil claims his own in his own day.
(He approaches the platform, and offers to Faust a pistol)
YOUNG STUDENT
What is he saying?
CHILD
Are they going to shoot?
YOUNG PLUMBER
Bang yourself one! That's what it's for.
BUTCHER
Good riddance!
There isn't room on earth for jokes like you!
FAUST (accepts the pistol)
In such a spirit as you offer it,
I do accept this token. In my hand
At least it shall lie safe, nor be a god:
I worship not the bullet.... But beware
What mummer's part you play in this strange scene.
For by the victory I have won of late,
I am your master! And in grovelling dust
Before me you shall cringe, though all the world
Shun me, your conqueror. Vilest of slaves!
Accept your servitude!
BUTCHER
Here! That's enough!
GIRL
You brute!
SATAN
Your slave. Command, and it shall be
Fulfilled. A little snarling now and then
Means naught.
YOUNG PLUMBER
I will not let an honest man,
A worthy citizen, be spoken to
Like that by a damn anarchist while I
Can raise a hand!
BUTCHER
Nor I!
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Go after him!
FAUST
Silence! Let not your eager efforts prove
You are the beast-herd he would bid you be!
YOUNG PLUMBER
What! Let us show him how to talk to us!
SATAN
See, on his forehead, see! Where the deep lines
Meet—do you see the blackened cross that grows
Each moment darker with the curse of God!
He is branded, he is Cain!
FAUST
Down, slave! Fulfil
Now my command, you who my bondsman are!
Seal on these eyes—too blind to take the light—
Darkness! And let me, turning from them, know
They have not peered into my open heart.
You are still my slave—though they are only fools.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Damn your infernal soul!
BUTCHER
Hit him a crack!
OLD WOMAN
Stop all your noise.
BUTCHER
Here, let me go, you fool!
[Suddenly aroused, some of the crowd surge forward
toward the platform. From the back of the
room someone hurls a chair, which strikes the great
chandelier: the lights instantly go out, leaving the
hall in total darkness. Confused cries, footsteps,
blows.
CRIES
What're you about?... Let go!... Where are the lights?...
[Suddenly two wall-brackets are illuminated, disclosing
part of the crowd massed on the platform.
As they surge back, there remains on the platform,
fallen and motionless, the figure of Faust. He raises
his head slowly.
FAUST
Ah, Satan!... worthy serf to my command!...
Go! I release you. For I would not die
With such a slave— Nay, though I die alone....
[Suddenly the door bursts open, and in surge the
maskers, in greater numbers and even wilder tumult
than before. Dancing grotesquely, linked hand in
hand, they zigzag through the hall, overturning
chairs and singing at the top of their voices.
THE MASKERS
Oh, children, children, children dear,
We cannot wait for any New Year.
So let us celebrate now and here
With rah, rah, rah and a bottle of beer!
CURTAIN
