DEATH SHALL NOT ENTER THE PALACE
Edited Version
Author: René Marqués (1919)
Brief Author Biography
Origin: Puerto Rican, born in Arecibo.
Trajectory: An agronomist by profession, he studied literature in Madrid and dramatic arts in the United States under a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship.
Style: His work analyzes the maladaptation of Puerto Ricans when faced with an imposed culture, often using symbolic elements and profound tragic motivation.
CHARACTERS
TERESIAS
CASANDRA
ALBERTO
DOÑA ISABEL
ANTONIO (Servant)
SECRETARY
DON JOSÉ
DON RAMÓN & THE YOUTH (Peasants)
CHIEF OF JUSTICE
THE COMMISSIONER FROM THE NORTH
VOICES AND CHOIRS (Voice of the Coquí, Nightingale, Employees, Guests)
ACT ONE
SCENE I
(It is night. A park is glimpsed, illuminated in patches by the moon. To the right, structures suggesting palace ruins emerge in silhouette. In the center, behind a balustrade, stand tall trees with trunks covered in ivy and wild vines. In the background, a marble statue rises upon a granite pedestal. The monotonous note of the coquí is heard: co-quí.)
A GREAT VOICE: This is how you see the scene, Teresias. This is how you see it.
(A moonbeam illuminates the statue: a young woman in a tunic, with a haughty expression and her right arm raised as if about to strike a blow. Teresias, a man of about 68 with a beard and glasses, cleans his lenses and addresses the audience.)
TERESIAS: (In a warm voice) This is how I see the scene. This is how I see Casandra. It hasn't happened yet. But it will happen. It is curious to observe how men forget the time that flows to become History. For reality to become this, someone, consciously or unconsciously, must infringe upon the moral order of the universe.
(The light fades. The somber atmosphere transforms into a bright and sunny garden. Teresias and the statue disappear. We are now in a palace garden overlooking the sea.)
CASANDRA: (Laughing, she is about 18 years old, wearing tennis clothes) But Alberto, you are acting like a child! Who would think of such a thing!
ALBERTO: (24 years old, pouring himself a rum and soda) Anyone with common sense would think of it. I'm talking about my position as a "chocolate soldier." What meaning can a Military Aide have in a country without its own army?
CASANDRA: (Approaching him) We have a National Guard, don't we? Besides, the Army of the North is right there, ready to defend us if the occasion arises. But Alberto, you fulfill a mission in the palace. Father loves you and trusts you.
ALBERTO: (Embracing her) If I had met you under other circumstances, how free and happy I would feel telling you that I love you!
CASANDRA: We are not prisoners in the palace. You can resign whenever you want. We are free. No one prevents us from being happy. Just give me time to prepare Father; he believes that when we marry, nothing will change, that we will stay here with him.
ALBERTO: (Pointing outside) Look, there is the People. And the People are happy. Therefore, we can be happy too.
CASANDRA: As Mother says: "No one in the palace has the right to happiness if the People are not happy."
ALBERTO: Doña Isabel says that? Those are Don Rodrigo’s words.
CASANDRA: Don Rodrigo’s? But that’s absurd! Don Rodrigo has been in prison in the North for twenty years!
ALBERTO: This morning your father received a communication. Don Rodrigo is free. He served his sentence and wants to return to the Island. Your father is worried.
CASANDRA: Bah, Father has nothing to fear from that poor old man. The People adore my Governor. Nothing will happen!
CONTINUATION: SCENE I (ACT ONE)
ALBERTO: Casandra, I would like you not to take certain things so lightly.
CASANDRA: I don't take things lightly. And to prove it to you, I remind you it's time for you to go put on your uniform. But first, I’ll serve you another drink. I bet you can't guess who you’re going to toast to? To Don Rodrigo! To the return of Don Rodrigo!
(DOÑA ISABEL enters through the glass door. She is about fifty years old and dresses simply. She stops for a moment upon hearing Casandra’s last phrase, and a shadow crosses her face.)
DOÑA ISABEL: Casandra! In a moment, a delegation of peasants will come to see your father. (To Antonio, the servant) Antonio! Take those liquors away, please.
CASANDRA: But Mother, that’s Alberto’s drink.
DOÑA ISABEL: The Military Aide cannot drink during working hours. Go, Casandra, as you are now, you are not exactly an edifying sight for the peasants. (Casandra runs off to the right).
ALBERTO: (Joking) Can I give a little help?
DOÑA ISABEL: You should give some use to your agronomist diploma; the land is still asking to be worked. I would feel better if you gave use to that instead of becoming a "mother-in-law to a uniform."
(The SECRETARY enters, a thin man with courtly manners).
SECRETARY: Madam, the Governor will be down shortly. I located Mr. Teresias, but he said it will be impossible for him to come tomorrow. He has an appointment at the airport to receive someone of his highest esteem.
DOÑA ISABEL: (Worried) At the airport? (Alone with Alberto) It is the first time Teresias has not answered a call of mine.
ALBERTO: Don Rodrigo is free. It could be that Teresias is going to receive him.
THE ARRIVAL OF DON JOSÉ AND THE PEASANTS
(DON JOSÉ enters. He is 58 years old, corpulent, and radiates a human warmth that subdues wills).
DON JOSÉ: Well, well, where are you going so fast?
DOÑA ISABEL: To knit for a while.
DON JOSÉ: I thought you would like to see the peasants.
DOÑA ISABEL: I will see them. But what you are attempting is horrible, José. You have given them bread, roof, and instruction, but you are a son of the city and were educated in the North. I am a peasant, like them, and I feel you are killing something in them that is worth more than progress.
DON JOSÉ: You are crazy! The People are a mass, and as such, they only feel primary needs. Their happiness consists of economic security. You cannot make metaphysics with the People; you have to make politics that lead to good government.
(The delegation of peasants from Altamira enters: DON RAMÓN, THE YOUTH, PASCASIA, ROSA, and three more men).
DON RAMÓN: Don José! Just like before, but without hope of sharing a coffee with you again.
DON JOSÉ: Tell me, what can I do for you? Any complaints? Lack of electricity?
YOUTH: It’s about a type of stone we discovered in the neighborhood. We want it analyzed. Maybe it is an important raw material for the industrialization program.
PASCASIA: (Shows a whitish stone).
DON JOSÉ: It’s beautiful, without a doubt. But it doesn't matter if this stone has industrial value or not. What matters is your gesture, your faith, and your enthusiasm for the program that is transforming this island into a world of progress.
YOUTH: But that isn't enough! It is necessary for it to have value because we cannot depend eternally on the North if we want to be free. We need to know how to sacrifice ourselves to be ourselves.
DON JOSÉ: And you think that is achieved with a piece of stone?
YOUTH: In that rock is the answer to what we are. You preached "Agro, bread, and emancipation," but emancipation and the agro have been forgotten. Only bread remains. And bread is good. But a people can die of hunger... and they can also die of bread!
DON JOSÉ: (After a tense pause) Because we live in a country with freedoms, you can express yourself as you have. Come see me when you feel ready to talk... serenely. (The peasants withdraw).
DON JOSÉ: (Caressing the stone) The seed that someone sowed has not yet died.
DOÑA ISABEL: And why kill it, Joseíto? Why not let it germinate?
(QUICK CURTAIN)
BLOCK 3:
Voices in the Wind and the Corruption of the Law
ACT ONE
SCENE II
(Theater in darkness. The sound of engines from a large plane landing is heard. Through the loudspeakers, a mechanical voice gives instructions to passengers arriving from the North. The murmur of the crowd and the checking of suitcases in customs are heard.)
VOICE OF EMPLOYEE: Do you have anything to declare, sir? VOICE OF DON RODRIGO: (Resonantly) Nothing. VOICE OF EMPLOYEE: Clothing and books, eh? Aren't you bringing any plants? VOICE OF DON RODRIGO: No. I bring a seed. The same one I took with me twenty years ago. I bring back to my Island... the seed of liberty!
(The music rises in a dramatic crescendo. DON JOSÉ's office is suddenly illuminated. He is hitting his desk, irritated. Beside him are ALBERTO, in uniform, and the CHIEF OF JUSTICE, a self-assured man holding some papers.)
DON JOSÉ: Words! Hollow words! Since he returned six months ago, that man only dedicates himself to making romantic, high-sounding phrases, as if he had entered a definitive dialogue with History. But it’s with the People he has to dialogue! And I am the People. I, who was democratically and overwhelmingly elected to build a world of progress upon the pain that all those romantic gestures had created.
CHIEF OF JUSTICE: I allow myself to remind you that we can arrest him at any moment. we have the anti-subversive law that the Assembly approved two years ago at your indication.
ALBERTO: (Incredulous) Arrest him? Without motive? That law has never been put into practice.
CHIEF OF JUSTICE: He won't, but his followers will. They have done it in the past. Here, in this report, are the data collected: private conversations, telephone interventions... a plan of action. When Don Rodrigo enters prison again, he will have been condemned, not by foreigners, but by his own compatriots.
ALBERTO: (Leafing through the report with disgust) This isn't a report. It looks more like a... diary of espionage. It is unworthy.
CHIEF OF JUSTICE: (Laughing) Unworthy? It’s possible. Would you demand a code of honor from our Internal Security Service? The military abandons its code of honor when war breaks out, doesn't it? Our secret police live in perpetual war.
DON JOSÉ: (Exploding) Enough! I admit that to protect a people from subversion, one must reach what is low and dirty. But I do not admit that this filth be rubbed in my nose! (He snatches the report from Alberto's hands and throws it in front of the Chief of Justice) Take your report! I have put you in that position precisely so you can be what you are, so you can get dirty for me. Do it! But before entering my house, wash your hands!
(The Chief of Justice exits hurriedly. Don José is left alone with Alberto. His voice is now low, tired.)
DON JOSÉ: Alberto, I am still capable of feeling disgust. But the horrible thing is that each time I feel less disgust. One day, I will have the unconsciousness of that beast I just kicked out of my office. Your father knew it; he refused to accept any post in the government because he said the power would prevent us from realizing our ideals. He died happy. He died in time. Because at the hour of his death, we were all clean.
DON JOSÉ: (Toward the background, as if speaking to Don Rodrigo's absence) It is I who make you! It is I who make your history! By preventing you from reaching the palace, I allow you to play a beautiful role for History!
VOICE OF DON RODRIGO: (Resonantly) My brothers will fight for the deep root of the race... for the land given as heritage... for the language the grandfathers bequeathed... for the freedom of the Island!
BLOCK 4: The Dilemma of the Two Voices
ACT ONE (Continued)
SCENE II
(A small area on the right is illuminated. Doña Isabel is sitting knitting; Antonio enters to announce the arrival of Teresias. She receives him with relief, but with a deep burden of sadness.)
DOÑA ISABEL: Teresias, finally! How difficult it is becoming for the godfather to visit his godchildren in the palace! Ah, Teresias, this palace is a monster with a thousand eyes. Everyone, from the highest government officials to the most insignificant employees, has agreed to lower their dignity and become informants. They are going to drive José mad.
TERESIAS: José has too much temple to let himself be influenced by those basenesses.
DOÑA ISABEL: (Rising) I am ashamed of my condition as a woman when I see the wives of officials come to vomit all their black denunciations upon me! I am afraid, Teresias. Afraid for myself and for Casandra. I ask myself sometimes if it has been worth it. When I was a girl, my only ambition was to be a rural teacher in my mountains. I had faith in myself and in my people.
TERESIAS: But one day three strangers arrived at the mountain: the poet, the philosopher, and the politician. Three men committed to the noble task of redeeming a people after Don Rodrigo's sacrifice. They offered the people three gifts: agro, bread, and emancipation.
DOÑA ISABEL: And the rural teacher received love. But now everything is confused. For many years our faith was attached to the voice of Don Rodrigo; then José picked up 그 voice and made it his own. And the object of our faith did not change in the slightest. But now, suddenly, we know there are two voices. And only one faith!
TERESIAS: I have tried to achieve an interview between José and Don Rodrigo. Don Rodrigo is willing. But he will not come to the palace. José, for his part, will not leave the palace. There is no means capable of overcoming the pride and arrogance of men. If the voices are not reconciled, we must choose between one or the other. We must be faithful only to one voice!
(The music rises dramatically and the lights go out. Don Rodrigo's voice emerges again in the darkness.)
VOICE OF DON RODRIGO: (With prophetic passion) "And the rains fell... but the house was not destroyed because it was founded upon stone." But the house is no longer made of stone! Because the Pharisees despised our stone and built upon false foundations. When the rains come... when the winds blow with impetus upon the house, the house shall be cast down!
BLOCK 5:
Shadows in the Crystal Garden
ACT ONE (Continued)
SCENE II
(The center of the stage is illuminated. Casandra appears sitting, reading a book with a localized frown. Alberto enters in uniform and approaches her; Casandra gives a cry of terror upon feeling his presence.)
ALBERTO: (Trying to calm her) It’s me, Casandra. What’s wrong? You’re trembling! Do you want us to go for a car ride?
CASANDRA: (Bitterly) In the armored limousine? With a detective on each side? Before, I left the palace very little, but I was free to choose not to. Now I am suffocating. I have opened my eyes to a world I didn't know. Do you know what this book should be titled? "Don José in a Desperate Struggle to Stay in Power."
ALBERTO: You are being unfair to your father. We all go through that moment when we stop seeing our parents as heroes and see them as fallible men, capable of erring. My father was also an important man, an incorrigible idealist, until one day I discovered he was made of the same clay as other men. He told me: "The son, to triumph, must kill the shadow of his father."
CASANDRA: (Moved) Alberto, let us move away from those shadows. Resign your post this very day. Let’s get married tomorrow. We will be simply Alberto and Casandra, two beings with a right to their own life.
ALBERTO: I cannot. It would be a desertion to abandon your father at this time. I feel Don Rodrigo’s threat at all hours; his voice hammers tirelessly into the ears and conscience of the people. But there is something more: your father is working on plans with experts from the North to convert the colony into a Protectorate.
CASANDRA: A Protectorate?
ALBERTO: It is a desperate political move by Don José to counteract Don Rodrigo’s influence. If those plans materialize, there will be no way out for the future; it will be the perpetuation of the statu quo. I feel I must help Don José in his internal struggle, for what there is of my father in the ideals he cast aside. I am faithful to the shadow of my father; I cannot avoid it.
CASANDRA: (With a broken voice) Then we are condemned to sacrifice our happiness for the sake of shadows we cannot kill.
THE CRY OF ALARM IN THE PALACE
(The music becomes turbulent. Alberto is illuminated as he answers an urgent phone call.)
ALBERTO: (Alarmed) What did you say? In Altamira? A black car with terrorists is heading toward the palace? Captain of the Guard! Reinforce the main facade and evacuate the offices. Send armed people quickly!
(The alarm siren sounds. Alberto tries to communicate with the Secretary to protect Don José. In the darkness, Don Rodrigo's voice emerges again, speaking of roaring lions and the final sacrifice. Suddenly, the sound of a car at full speed is heard, a dramatic braking, and closed machine-gun fire.)
VOICE OF DON JOSÉ: (Gritando tras la puerta cerrada) Guardias, to me! They want to kill me! Assassins!
(THE CURTAIN FALLS)
BLOCK 6:
The Iron Wall and the Farce of Power
ACT TWO
SCENE I
(Theater in darkness. DON JOSÉ's voice emerges, amplified and with a meticulously measured burden of emotion. His speech sounds serene but intense, underlining key words with effect.)
VOICE OF DON JOSÉ: I address my people to thank them for their serene and balanced attitude before the revolt provoked by a handful of assassins. Altamira, incubator of the revolt, has been occupied by Northern troops. Peace and order reign again. The one responsible—Don Rodrigo—now pays the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. I guarantee the people that subversion will not enter the Island! I guarantee that violence and death will not enter the palace!
(The curtain rises. It is a hot July afternoon. The garden is now divided by a high fence of thick iron bars with armed sentries guarding the passage. Don José works at a table full of papers, whiskey, and rubbing alcohol for the heat. TERESIAS appears behind the bars; the sentries intercept his path with their weapons until he hands over a card and they allow him to enter.)
DON JOSÉ: (Without looking up) Come in, Teresias. It's a hell of a heat. (He rubs alcohol on his neck and pours whiskey). Did you write the verses for the anthem?
TERESIAS: (Softly) You are crazy!
DON JOSÉ: (Irritated) I have been working since five in the morning on grave and important things that affect the future of my people. Answer: did you write the lyrics for the anthem?
TERESIAS: No. My pen is not at the service of your whims.
DON JOSÉ: (Threatening) Teresias!
TERESIAS: (Smiling) José, José. Who are you trying to impress? You are alone. You wouldn't be a good politician if you didn't possess magnificent histrionic skills. But it’s tragic: when the limit between farce and life is erased, one tends to live only the farce. Someone has to break this silence of death and tell you: Governor of this Island, you are a fake!
DON JOSÉ: Enough!
TERESIAS: You have dared to send me an order to write the lyrics of an anthem for that thing you call a Protectorado, for that make-believe autonomy you invent for this people. You have stolen it from the people for your own ends.
DON JOSÉ: The Protectorado will make us cease to be a colony. We will have our own Constitution. Is it that you do not grant me even the right to be great?
TERESIAS: I grant you the extraordinary ability of a politician that you actually have. I grant you the cunning that the fox of old fables possessed. But because you failed to be faithful to your destiny, I cannot grant you any greatness, José. Nor will History grant it to you. (The lighting fades and unreal music enters). I am only a poet. I perceive realities that are beyond your surrounding reality. In that lies my greatness... and my tragedy. You are the Man, José. I am only the Poet.
BLOCK 7:
The Unspoken Word
ACT TWO
SCENE I (Continued)
(Teresias prepares to leave. Don José, in an almost anguished tone, stops him.)
DON JOSÉ: Teresias... What can I do to hear your voice?
TERESIAS: (Turns slowly) Perhaps... you have lacked courage. There was a moment in your personal history when you had before you the greatness you now yearn for and cannot reach. It was in your fourth year in power. The agrarian reform was at its peak. Bread was in all mouths. Only the third slogan of our motto was missing: emancipation.
DON JOSÉ: (Nervously searching for matches) I don't know what you are talking about.
TERESIAS: (Lighting Don José’s cigarette) Of course you know. Everything was favorable for us: the renewing impulse in the people's conscience, a liberal administration in the North that would have welcomed our demand. It only took one word from you for the world to see the spectacle of a country reaching its sovereignty, peacefully and democratically. It was only one word; a short, small, humble word: the one you did not say!
DON JOSÉ: (Defending himself) It wasn't the moment! There was much work to do for the people. In the current world, there is no country that can truly be free!
TERESIAS: Emancipation was not conceived as a suicide. We yearned for our people to open all their doors to the world, instead of keeping only one door open to the North. But you need a "protector" to guarantee the security you yourself have not known how to provide. "Protectors" never protect the weak! They swallow them!
THE SACRIFICE OF THE POET
(DOÑA ISABEL enters. Teresias says goodbye and exits quickly, avoiding being accompanied. Don José tries to drink whiskey, but his wife removes the bottle and applies alcohol to the back of his neck to calm him.)
DOÑA ISABEL: Did you know Teresias resigned his pension?
DON JOSÉ: (Surprised) No! Since when?
DOÑA ISABEL: Months ago already. When he learned they had arrested Don Rodrigo. He lives on small tasks and reviews. He is starving, José!
DON JOSÉ: (Covering his face) My God! What does he propose? To take revenge? To discredit my work? To starve in the midst of the prosperity I have brought to the people!
DOÑA ISABEL: Teresias only follows the impulses of his heart.
DON JOSÉ: (Shouting) Why am I the last to know things? What kind of imbeciles surround me! (He moves violently toward the door, but Isabel interposes herself).
DOÑA ISABEL: (Shouting) No, José! Hit me if that makes you more of a man! Why do you need to prove your power at every moment? Is it that you hate yourself so much that you want to destroy us all?
BLOCK 8:
Giants in a Government of Dwarves
ACT TWO
SCENE I (Continued)
DOÑA ISABEL: Aren't we, after all, your servants? You have at your feet an ingenuous, grateful people, dazzled by progress and prosperity. It matters little that this prosperity is artificial, that it depends on the North and not on you. The people see that torrent of coins and they adore you, José.
DON JOSÉ: Aren't there clean elections? Aren't there civil liberties?
DOÑA ISABEL: What is happening, my Joseíto, is that you are a giant in a government of dwarves. The dwarves surrender their rights to increase the giant’s power. The blame was on the Greeks, who invented democracy for giants and didn't think their invention would one day fall into the hands of dwarves.
DON JOSÉ: You are unfair to the people in my government.
DOÑA ISABEL: I am fed up with this palace! Fed up with your government! Fed up with "democracy," with the well-being of the people, and the chant of ideals. I don't believe in anything anymore! "Because the Pharisees despised our stone and built their ostentatious building upon false foundations." My home has been a public house, my husband a ruler, and my daughter sobs at night. She is not happy!
(The SECRETARY enters from the right.)
SECRETARY: Pardon. Telephone conference for the Governor. The Rector says the doctors of the College of Law have finished drafting the Constitution for the Protectorado. The Rector has doubts about one of the clauses; he believes the Northern Government would not impart its approval.
DON JOSÉ: (To Isabel) Don't lose faith, Isabeliña. I need your faith very much. Very much. (He kisses her and leaves hurriedly toward his office).
THE TRAP OF THE REFERENDUM
(Doña Isabel is left alone until ALBERTO appears with a folded propaganda poster. He crosses the gate and climbs to the terrace.)
ALBERTO: (Indignant, unfolding the poster before her) Look at this! A propaganda poster for the referendum on the Protectorado. Read what it says: "If you do not vote for the Protectorado, you will be against Democracy. You will become an accomplice to the subversives."
DOÑA ISABEL: (With soft mockery) It’s politics, Alberto. The party in power has to do its propaganda.
ALBERTO: Clean politics can be made!
(Doña Isabel begins to laugh hysterically and convulsively. It is a painful sound. Alberto, frightened, serves her whiskey from the table to drink and calm down.)
DOÑA ISABEL: Thank you, Alberto. I am fine now. Just nerves. Do you truly believe that the referendum has importance?
ALBERTO: If the people vote in favor, Don José will be able to sign the treaty with the North. But the whole maneuver is unfair. The people are only given a choice between the colony and the Protectorado. It’s a dirty trap!
DOÑA ISABEL: It is a new disguise for the colony. To silence our consciences and so the people play at liberty innocently. (Pointing to the left) And so they do not force us to raise more iron fences around the palace!
BLOCK 9:
Teresias's Cry and Casandra's Flight
ACT TWO
SCENE I (Conclusion)
ALBERTO: (In a final attempt at resistance) We have to do something, Doña Isabel. Help me convince him.
DOÑA ISABEL: No, Alberto, not me. You, who still have a young and clean soul. Go, he is in his office. If there is a voice that can reach what is best in him, that voice is yours.
(Alberto exits toward Don José's office. At that moment, the roar of a European sports car engine is heard. Doña Isabel runs to the railing of the circular terrace.)
DOÑA ISABEL: (Shouting toward the background) Casandra! Where are you going?
VOICE OF CASANDRA: (From below) I'm going to breathe fresh air, Mother! Your palace suffocates me!
DOÑA ISABEL: You cannot leave in that open car! Casandra! Someone has to accompany you!
(The car starts at full speed and disappears in the distance. Doña Isabel, with a clumsy step and a fatigue of centuries, drops into Don José's chair. It is a definitive collapse.)
DOÑA ISABEL: (Whispering bitterly) My palace!
SCENE II
The Veil of Mystery and the Pain of Justice
(Theater in darkness. Unreal music envelops the scene and a magnified GREAT VOICE emerges.)
A GREAT VOICE: Teresias, Teresias, for you I draw back another veil of mystery. What do you see now in the scene?
TERESIAS: (In a tragic psalmody tone, under a red light) Ay, pain, pain! Pain and misery! Sink me into the shadows, Lord! Let my heart be torn into shreds. Your hand shall fall upon the palace. The blood of my own shall run upon the whiteness of the marble. Innocent blood next to guilty blood!
A GREAT VOICE: Thus I satisfy your hunger, Teresias. Thus I calm your thirst.
TERESIAS: My hunger was for justice, my thirst, for love. Turn Your justice away from us!
(The red light goes out over Teresias. The scene moves to a small illuminated area where CASANDRA sobs with her head buried in DOÑA ISABEL's lap.)
DOÑA ISABEL: Calm down, Casandra. It was only a dream, a nightmare.
CASANDRA: (Horrified) But horrible. I had cut down the ceiba tree in the garden with my own hands because the nightingale no longer sang in its branches. And with every blow of my axe I felt a ghastly pain in my chest.
BLOCK 10:
The Velvet Gift and Blind Faith
ACT TWO
SCENE II (Continued)
DOÑA ISABEL: (Embracing her daughter) Don't say there is no joy. At your age, there must be joy. Life at your age is the most beautiful thing that can happen to a human being; live it, live it in all its beauty. Don't let anything or anyone hinder your enjoyment of living it.
CASANDRA: I feel no enjoyment in living it. Our love suffocates between these walls. Alberto wanted to stay. To save a shadow.
DOÑA ISABEL: (With anguish) If you want to save your love, you must maintain faith in the man you love. You have to believe in him blindly, irrationally, with the same blind faith with which we believe in God. When reason makes everything you believed secure, admirable, fall to pieces; when you suddenly see yourself in a desolate world, you will have the handle of your faith which will be your only salvation. Do not let the faith in his destiny be extinguished in your soul. Don't lose your faith, Casandra!
(The light goes out over them and DON JOSÉ's desk is illuminated. He is euphoric. ALBERTO enters, but this time in civilian clothes.)
DON JOSÉ: Hello, Alberto! A great day for me and for the people! In a few hours, I will execute the democratic mandate. Remember the reception begins at eight and at nine the Commissioner from the North arrives to sign the treaty. You will be at my right... or at my left?
ALBERTO: (Hands him an open envelope) I would appreciate it if you would read this letter.
DON JOSÉ: (Ignoring him for now, picks up a box) Wait! I have a surprise for Casandra. I went to the most exclusive fashion shop myself. The little French girl almost fell on her bottom when she saw me: "Monsieur le Gouverneur!". I felt myself shipwrecked in a sea of laces and French perfumes. But look at what I got. (He pulls out a beautiful black velvet evening cape lined in silver lamé). What do you think? I want Casandra to feel happy tonight.
ALBERTO: (Seriously) Read the letter, sir.
DON JOSÉ: (Reads and his expression changes) What is this? Your resignation? Today, precisely today? Without explanations, without motive... I will not accept it.
ALBERTO: My decision is irrevocable. Here are the insignias. I have turned in my uniforms and my pistol to the Captain of the Guard.
BLOCK 11:
The Ruler's Naked Soul
ACT TWO
SCENE II (Continued)
DON JOSÉ: (Passing his hand over the back of his neck) Alberto, you are acting like a child. If your father were alive....
ALBERTO: He would approve of my attitude, without a doubt. The Protectorado is not the ideal you two shared. Don't come to me with that demagogic drivel! You don't even believe it yourself.
DON JOSÉ: (Energetically) You are being disrespectful to me.
ALBERTO: Don't sign that treaty. You weren't capable of giving us emancipation. Others will come after you, but for them, do not close the path. Do not compromise the future with that irrevocable treaty. You have no right!
DON JOSÉ: I have all the rights. I open the path to liberty with protection, which is the only effective, the only true one. I will pardon Don Rodrigo, there will be peace.
ALBERTO: What work remains of your revolutionary party? In the fourth year, you abandoned agrarian reform; in the sixth, the socialist measures; by ten, you were allied with the powerful capitalists you once fought. Today you industrialize the country on false bases and forget agriculture. You betrayed the ideal of emancipation in exchange for power and your comfortable security.
DON JOSÉ: So you doubt even democracy!
ALBERTO: (Shouting) Democracy without liberal principles is pure demagoguery and, in practice, something worse: the pure dictatorship of a hypocritical messiah. You have skillfully taken advantage of the flaws of democracy. You do not think of History nor of the dignity of the people....
DON JOSÉ: (Exploding) By stamping my signature on that document, I will be elevating this miserable, stupid people to a level of dignity they have never known!
(A long pause. Both look at each other in silence. Don José realizes he has stripped his soul and Alberto looks at him with horror.)
ALBERTO: So that was it. So that people has no dignity. For twenty years you have been pampering a people that, deep down, you despise. You had no confidence in your people. That "miserable people" was not worthy of liberty.
DON JOSÉ: (Fleeing his gaze) I didn't say that!
ALBERTO: How well I understand your paradox! The convinced democrat constantly violating the principles of true democracy.
DON JOSÉ: (Shouting with a voice full of tears) Go! I will sign it! No one will prevent me from executing the mandate of this noble and good people. I will sign it!
BLOCK 12: The Priestess of the Black Night
ACT TWO
SCENE II (Continued)
(The stage goes dark and the music acquires a religious grandiosity. A beam of reddish light illuminates CASANDRA kneeling at a red velvet kneeler. She is covered by the black velvet cape Don José gave her; beneath it, she wears a grey Greek tunic. Her figure is statuary, with hands interlaced from which hangs a nacre and gold rosary.)
MALE CHOIR: (Singing) Pain, pain. Pain and misery. Pain! VOICE OF DOÑA ISABEL (offstage): "When reason makes everything you believed secure... fall to pieces... you will have the handle of your faith, which will be your only salvation.”
(ALBERTO enters from the left; he observes Casandra with tenderness and kneels beside her. They look at each other with devotion, but they do not kiss.)
ALBERTO: I came to say goodbye. I have resigned my post in the palace.
CASANDRA: (Illuminated) What joy! Finally you decided. You and I, far from here, together forever.
ALBERTO: (Desperate) You don't understand... we have no right to this "today." I only came to see you one last time. Don't go to the reception; stay in your room.
CASANDRA: You scare me, Alberto!
ALBERTO: No matter what happens, you must be sure of my love. I love you more than my life.
(Alberto tries to leave, but Casandra, as she embraces him, stumbles upon a solid object in his jacket pocket. With a terrifying intuition, she reaches in and pulls out a revolver.)
CASANDRA: It was this! Why do you need a revolver? Today? The most important day in my father's life? No!
ALBERTO: Casandra! Give me that weapon.
(They struggle hand-to-hand in the midst of a light that becomes intensely red. A shot is heard. Alberto's body slowly slumps. Casandra holds his head in her lap, looking at the corpse with eyes wide with horror.)
CASANDRA: (In a whisper broken by sobs) Alberto! Love! Love!
(The red light goes out and the silence is broken by the music of a Viennese waltz coming from the party in the palace garden.)
BLOCK 13:
The Palace's Blackest Night
ACT TWO
SCENE II (Final)
(The scene is brilliantly illuminated. The palace terraces are decorated for the reception; the garden and the sea shine under the moon. The guests dress in gala, there is music, laughter, and the sound of champagne glasses. DON JOSÉ stands out among his high officials, whom Doña Isabel describes as "dwarves" before his giant figure.)
SECRETARY: (Announcing) The Commissioner from the North!
(The COMMISSIONER appears, a blonde and corpulent man of bonhomous appearance and informal dress that contrasts with the etiquette of the locals. Don José receives him with enthusiasm and shakes his hand. A toast is made to the "eternal friendship" between the Island and the North.)
DON JOSÉ: (Beginning his official speech) Gentlemen! We have gathered for an act of transcendental importance. With the advent of the Protectorado, this noble and good people finally realizes its dearest aspirations. It is a triumph of two free peoples who respect each other.
(Don José takes the pen to sign the treaty. The light on the stage begins to fade, concentrating only on him.)
DON JOSÉ: Today we begin a white and clean page in our history. And to celebrate it, I announce that this very afternoon... I signed Don Rodrigo's pardon!
CASANDRA'S SENTENCE
(At that moment, unreal music enters and CASANDRA appears behind the iron fence. She is pale, with her hair loose and her grey tunic stained with blood; her right arm remains hidden under her black cape.)
DON JOSÉ: (Trembling) Casandra! You have come at last!
CASANDRA: (In a monotonous and hard voice) I have come to your celebration, father. I have come to wear your black cape on the blackest night of my life. Death has already entered the palace, father!
DON JOSÉ: (Shouting) No!
CASANDRA: Despite the bars, I have held it in my arms. And from its bloody body, I have torn its voice. And its voice is already my voice! It is the voice of my dead ideals, of our surrendered homeland, of my murdered love. It is the voice of my Alberto!
(Three shots are heard. Don José's face contorts with pain and the light fades over him as he falls. Silence ensues, broken only by the voice of the coquí.)
HISTORICAL EPILOGUE
(In the gloom, the figure of TERESIAS emerges contemplating the scene. A pale blue beam of light illuminates Casandra, who now appears motionless on the granite pedestal, like a living statue with her arm raised.)
TERESIAS: (In a psalmodic tone) Ay, pain and misery! Because rivers of blood flowed and the house was cast down. And it happened. The History of men perpetuated the implacability of Your judgment. For love and for pain, Casandra is now immortal!
(The choirs rise in a triumphal crescendo singing "Love, love!" as the final curtain falls.)
(END OF THE PLAY)
