"Hernani" is the
most famous play in the European literature of the nineteenth century.
most famous play in the European literature of the nineteenth century.
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
DON RUY GOMEZ: I have sworn no man
Shall marry you but me. I keep my oath!
[_With a wild gesture_ DONA SOL _drinks half of the
poison, and hands_ HERNANI _the rest. _
DONA SOL: You are two cruel men. Drink, Hernani,
And let us go to sleep!
HERNANI (_emptying the phial_): Kiss me, my sweet.
It is our bridal night.
DONA SOL (_falling beside him on the ground_): Fold me, my love,
Close in your arms. [_They die. _
DON RUY GOMEZ: Oh, I am a lost soul!
[_He kills himself. _
FOOTNOTES:
[I] Victor Hugo (see Vol. V, p. 122) occupies an anomalous
position among the great dramatists of the world. He is really a poet
with a splendid lyrical inspiration; but he combines this in his plays
with an acquired but effective talent for stage-craft.
"Hernani" is the
most famous play in the European literature of the nineteenth century.
This is partly due to the fact that it was the first great romantic
drama given on the French stage. When it was produced, on February 25,
1830, there was a fierce battle in the theatre between the followers
of the new movement and the adherents of the classic school of French
playwriting. Little of the play itself was heard on the first night.
The voices of the players were drowned in a storm of denunciations
from the classicists, and counter-cheers from the romanticists. The
admirers of Victor Hugo won. "Hernani" is certainly the most romantic
of romantic dramas. The plot is striking, and full of swift and
astonishing changes, but the characters are not always true to life.
Nevertheless, "Hernani" is a fine, interesting, poetic melodrama, with
a rather weak last act. The gloomy scene with which it closes lacks
the inevitability of true tragedy. Had the play ended happily it would
undoubtedly have retained its popularity.
Marion de Lorme[J]
_Persons in the Drama_
MARION DE LORME
DIDIER
LOUIS XIII.
THE MARQUIS DE SAVERNY
THE MARQUIS DE NANGIS
THE COMTE DE GASSE
BRICHANTEAU
L'ANGELY, _the King's Jester_
ROCHEBARON LAFFEMAS
TOWN CRIER HEADSMAN TWO WORKMEN
SOLDIERS, OFFICIALS, _and a crowd of people_
ACT I
SCENE--_A street in Blois in 1638. Some officers are sitting in the
twilight outside a tavern, chatting, smoking, and drinking. They
rise up to welcome the_ COMTE DE GASSE.
BRICHANTEAU: You come to Blois to join the regiment?
