I would to God
You loved me less: I give you all I can
For all this love of yours, and yet I am sure
I shall live out the sorrow of your death
And be glad afterwards. You know I am sorry.
I should weep now; forgive me for your part.
God made me hard, I think. Alas! you see
I had fain been other than I am."
Add to this the beautifully illuminating threat, "I shall be deadly to
you," uttered in the midst of amorous cooings and murmurings, and we
catch a glimpse of the demoniac depth of this woman's nature. Bjoernson's
"Mary Stuart" weeps more than once; nay, she says to Bothwell, when he
has forcibly abducted her to his castle:
"This is my first prayer to you,
That I may weep."
Quite in the same key is her exclamation (in the same scene) in response
to Bothwell's reference to her son:
"My son, my lovely boy! Oh, God, now he lies sleeping in his little
white bed, and does not know how his mother is battling for his sake."
Schiller, whose conception of womankind was as honestly single and
respectful as that of Bjoernson, had set a notable precedent in
representing Mary Stuart as a martyr of a lost cause.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51