[_With a wild
gesture_
DONA SOL _drinks half of the
poison, and hands_ HERNANI _the rest.
poison, and hands_ HERNANI _the rest.
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
[DON RUY GOMEZ _enters, playing on the horn like a madman. _
DON RUY GOMEZ: So you have not kept your word.
"My life belongs to you. At any time
You wish to take it, sound upon this horn
And I will kill myself. " You are forsworn!
HERNANI: I have no weapon on me.
DON RUY GOMEZ (_offering a dagger and a phial_):
Which of these
Do you prefer?
HERNANI: The poison.
DONA SOL: Are you mad?
HERNANI: He saved my life at Aragon. I gave
My word of honour I would kill myself
When he desired.
[_He raises the phial to his lips, but his wife wrests it
from him. _
DONA SOL (_to her guardian_): Why do you desire
To kill my husband?
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.
