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Maria Stuart

 | 
Friedrich Schiller

Maria Stuart

Act One

Texte intégral

Tableau représentant Marie Stuart, reine de France et d’Écosse. Château de Blois. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/​wiki/​File:Blois_-_tableau_Marie_Stuart.jpg

1A room in Fotheringhay Castle

Scene One

2Hanna Kennedy, nurse of the Queen of Scotland, in sharp dispute with Paulet, who is about to open a cabinet. Drugeon Drury, his assistant, with a crowbar.

3KENNEDY. Stand back, sir! What fresh impudence! Away from This chest!

4PAULET. Who was it threw down all those jewels?

5Who? They were tossed down from the upper story

6And meant to bribe the gardener. Women’s wiles!

7For all my watching, for all my sharp searching,

8Still secret valuables, still hidden treasure!

9(Attacking the cabinet)

10Where that was there is more!

11KENNEDY. Back, shameless man!

12The Lady’s secrets lie here.

13PAULET. Just what I want! (Pulling out papers)

14KENNEDY. Of no importance, idle jottings to shorten

15[10] The long, sad hours of her imprisonment.

16PAULET. Idleness is handmaid to the devil.

17KENNEDY. These papers are all in French.

18PAULET. So much the worse!

19That language England’s enemy speaks.

20KENNEDY. Drafts of letters

21Intended for the Queen of England.

22PAULET. I will

23Deliver them. — Look here! What’s sparkling so?

24(He has opened a secret compartment and lifts jewels from a hidden drawer.)

25A royal coronet, all studded with stones,

  • 1 The device of the House of Valois: three golden lilies against a ground of blue.

26Entwined and threaded by the lilies of France!1

27(He gives it to his companion.)

28Take care of it, Drury. Add it to the rest!

29(Drury goes off.)

30KENNEDY. Disgraceful force that we have to submit to!

31[20] PAULET. While she still has possessions, she can do harm.

32In her hands everything becomes a weapon.

33KENNEDY. Have mercy, sir. Don’t take the last fine touch from Our lives! Poor Lady! How she’s cheered by the sight of Old splendor. You have taken all else away.

34PAULET. It’s in good hands. And it will be returned

35Safely and surely when the proper time comes.

36KENNEDY. Who’d think from these bare walls to find a queen

37Living here? Where’s the baldachin above

38Her chair? Must she not set her foot, accustomed

39[30] To softness, on raw common flooring? With The coarsest pewter—plainest noblewomen Would scorn it—they make bold to serve her table.

  • 2 At Stirling Castle, near Edinburgh, Mary’s son James was baptized. Her enemies claimed that her hus (...)
  • 3 The exchange that follows plots Paulet’s Protestant stringency against the Catholic ease of Mary’s (...)

40PAULET. That’s how she saw her husband served at Stirling, While she drank out of gold cups with her lover.2 KENNEDY. The simplest looking-glass is even denied her.3 PAULET. As long as she can still see her vain image She will not give up hoping—hoping and scheming.

41KENNEDY. There are no books here to engage her mind.

42PAULET. They gave her a Bible to improve her heart.

43[40] KENNEDY. Even her lute they took away from her.

44PAULET. Because she used to play her love songs on it.

45KENNEDY. Is that a fate for one who’s gently bred,

46Who was crowned queen while still in the cradle, and

47Then brought up at the court of a Medici

  • 4 For these events in Mary’s early history, see the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.”

48Amid all excess, every possible pleasure?4

49Be it enough to rob her of her power.

50Must one begrudge her little trinkets as well?

51A great misfortune teaches the noble heart

52To find itself, but it is painful to be

53[50] Entirely robbed of life’s every small beauty.

54PAULET. They only turn the heart to idle things,

55When it should turn inward instead and repent.

56A life of vice and excess is atoned

57Alone by want, abasement, and repentance.

58KENNEDY. If her tender years of youth went astray, may She settle her accounts with God and her heart.

  • 5 A recurrent motif and an important argument in Mary’s behalf.

59In England there is no judge over her.5

60PAULET. She shall be judged where she committed her crimes.

61KENNEDY. She is too tightly bound here to commit crimes.

62[60] PAULET. From these bonds she knew to extend an arm

63Into the world and fling the torch of civil

64War into the Realm and against our Queen,

65God save her, and to arm mutinous mobs.

66From inside these walls did she not incite

  • 6 Two of the many plots to deliver Mary from captivity. William Parry was convicted of plotting—witho (...)

67The villain Parry and then Babington, too,6

68To regicide, that damnable deed? Did iron bars

  • 7 Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, of the highest English nobility, conspired with Spain to deliver Ma (...)

69Keep her from catching Norfolk in her web?7

70The best head on this Island fell to the axe,

71Sacrificed to her. Did this wretched example

72[70] Deter the madmen who now fling themselves in Contest into the abyss on her account?

73For her the scaffolds fill with ever new victims,

74And that will not end till she, guiltiest of all,

75Is sacrificed herself on a bloody scaffold.

76Accursed the day when the hospitable shores

  • 8 Helen of Troy. Fabulously beautiful wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, she eloped with her husband’s (...)

77Surrounding this land received such a Helen !8

78KENNEDY. Hospitable English shores received my Lady?

79Unhappy creature, who since she set foot in

80This land, a supplicant entreating help and

81[80] Protection from her reigning cousin, sees

82Herself, against her rank and common law,

83Held captive, wasting her young years in confinement.

84Who, having known the bitterness of prison,

85Is summoned into court like a cut-throat and meanly

86Accused on peril of her life—a queen!

  • 9 See the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.”

87PAULET. She came into this kingdom having murdered,9

88Chased by her subjects and removed from her throne,

89Which she had desecrated by her deeds.

90Sworn against England’s fortunes now she came,

91[90] Intending to bring back the bloody times of

  • 10 Mary Tudor, called Bloody Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon. Que (...)

92The Spanish Mary,10 making England Catholic,

93Betraying England to the hopeful French.

  • 11 One of several abortive attempts to regularize relations among the royal houses of England, Scotlan (...)

94For why disdain to sign the Edinburgh Treaty,11

95Renouncing all claim to the English throne

96And opening a swift way out of her prison?

97She’d remain captive, be maltreated, sooner

98Than give up empty grandeur in a title.

99Why did she do that? She preferred to trust plots,

100The evil arts of schemes, conspiracies.

101[100] Spinning disaster, she dreams conquest. She’d Conquer this Island from the depths of her cell.

102KENNEDY. You surely mock us, sir. To hardship you add

103Derision. She should cherish dreams of this kind,

104Walled up alive here, whom no sound of comfort

105Reaches, no voice of friendship from her home?

106Who sees no human face but that of her jailer,

  • 12 This is unhistorical Mortimer, who enters in Scene Three.

107Who now has a new guard, your ill-mannered kinsman,12 And sees herself caged round in new iron bars?

108PAULET. No iron bar protects from her perfidy.

109[110] Do I know if these bars have not been filed through?

110If this floor and these walls that seem so solid

111Have not been hollowed out inside, admitting

112Treason while I’m asleep? A damnable office

113I’ve gotten, guarding these wiles that hatch ruin.

114Fear tosses me up out of sleep in the night,

115I go about like a tormented specter,

116Testing bolts on doors, good faith in the guards, and

117Tremble each morning lest my fears have come true.

118But to my great relief it’s soon to end,

119[120] For I would rather stand guard over the damned

120Before the gates of Hell than over this

121Queen full of intrigue, queen full of wiles!

122KENNEDY. She’s coming there herself!

123PAULET. The Christ in her hand

124Vainglory and worldly pleasures in her heart.

Scene Two

125Mary, veiled and carrying a Crucifix. As above.

126KENNEDY (hurrying to meet her).

127My Queen! Just look! They’re trampling us underfoot!

128Of harshness and tyranny there is no end!

129Every new day heaps sorrows, heaps new shame

130On your crowned head.

131MARY. Come now! Compose yourself!

132And tell me what new thing has happened.

133KENNEDY. Look here!

134[130] Your desk is broken open. All your writings,

135Your last remaining treasure, salvaged at great pain,

136The rest of bridal jewelry taken from France

137Is now in his hands. Nothing royal is yours.

138You have been robbed. There is now nothing left you.

139MARY. Take comfort, Hanna. Tinsel such as this

140Makes no queen. They can treat us basely but

141They cannot abase us. Here in England I’ve learned,

142Accustomed myself to much and this, too,

143I can endure. (To Paulet) You, sir, have seized what I

144[140] Was minded to surrender to you today.

145Among these writings you will find a letter

146Intended for my royal sister of England.

147Give me your word that you’ll deliver it

  • 13 William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Elizabeth’s valued advisor, made Lord High Treasurer 1572.

148To her in honor and not into Burghley’s13

149Faithless hands.

150PAULET. I’ll decide what is to be done.

151MARY. You are to know the content, sir. In this letter

152I sue for a great favor: I request

153An interview with her, whom I’ve never seen.

154One summoned me before a court composed

155[150] Of men whom I do not know as my equals, Men who are known to me only as strangers.

156Elizabeth is my kinswoman, my rank,

157My kind. To her alone, my sister, a queen,

158A woman, am I able to speak freely.

159PAULET. Often, my Lady, you’ve entrusted your honor And fate to men less worthy your respect.

160MARY. I ask another favor. To refuse me

161Were inhumane. Imprisoned, I’m denied

162The comforts of my Church, the blessing of Sacrament.

163[160] One who’s robbed me of crown and freedom, indeed Threatened my life, would not bar me from Heaven.

164PAULET. If you desire, the local deacon would—

165MARY (interrupting him sharply).

166I’ll have no deacon. I demand a priest of

167My Church. And scribes and notaries. I require to

168Record my last will. Sorrow, wretched confinement

169Shorten my life. My days are numbered, I fear,

170And I consider myself bound for death.

171PAULET. You do well. Such reflection much becomes you. MARY. Can I be sure that no swift hand will speed the

172[170] Slow workings of my pain and grief? I wish To make my will, dispose of what is mine.

173PAULET. That you are free to do. The Queen of England Would not enrich herself by robbing you.

174MARY. I have been separated from the ladies

175Attending me and from my servants. Where are they?

176What fate have they met? I can spare their service;

177I would be assured they do not suffer or want.

178PAULET. Your servants have been well provided for. (He turns to go.)

179MARY. You are about to go? You’d leave me again

180[180] And not relieve my heart’s uncertainty?

181Thanks to your spies, I am removed from the world,

182No news can reach me through these prison walls,

183My fate lies in the hands of my enemies.

184A long and painful month has passed since forty

185Commissioners ambushed me here in this castle,

186Erected barriers, with unseemly haste put

187Me, unprepared and without counsel, before

188A court no one had ever heard of, made me,

189Surprised and stunned, respond then and there to

190[190] Sly legal points accusing me of grave crimes.

191Like specters they appeared and vanished again.

192From that day all men have kept silent before me, In vain I try to read your gaze and your glances:

193Whether my innocence, the efforts of friends, or

194My enemies’ foul influence has prevailed.

195Break your long silence, let me know at last:

  • 14 The play opens at the ripe moment: Mary has been tried, as she describes, and is waiting to hear th (...)

196What must I fear—tell me—what dare I hope?14

197PAULET (after a silence).

198Settle all your accounts with Heaven, Madam.

199MARY. I hope for Heaven’s mercy, sir, and from

200[200] My earthly judges I hope for strict justice.

201PAULET. Justice will be yours. Have no doubt of that.

202MARY. My trial has been decided?

203PAULET. I do not know.

204MARY. I’ve been condemned?

205PAULET. My Lady, I know nothing.

206MARY. One goes to work with speed here. Is the assassin

207To ambush me just as my judges did?

208PAULET. Assume as much. He’ll find you better prepared.

209MARY. Nothing a Westminster court presumes to find, led

  • 15 Sir Christopher Hatton presided over Mary’s trial.

210By Burghley’s hate and Hatton’s zeal,15 shall shock me.

211I know too well what England’s Queen dare do.

212[210] PAULET. England’s great rulers need fear but their conscience And Parliament. What justice fearlessly has Spoken, their might will execute in plain view.

Scene Three

213As above. Mortimer, Paulet’s nephew, enters, ignoring the Queen.

214MORTIMER (to Paulet). You’re wanted, Uncle.

215(He goes off in the same fashion. The Queen turns to Paulet, who is about to follow.)

216MARY. Yet another request, sir.

217If you have something you would say to me—

218From you I suffer much; I honor your years.

219The insolence of such a youngster I’ll not

220Endure. Spare me his uncouth manners henceforth.

221PAULET. What you would not endure endears him to me.

222He’s plainly not among the feeble fools

223[220] Whom women’s lying tears can soften soon.

224He’s traveled. He returns from Paris and Reims,

225Bringing back home his loyal old-English heart.

  • 16 The passage fairly vibrates with dramatic irony.

226On him your arts are lost entirely, my Lady.16 (He goes off.)

Scene Four

227Mary. Kennedy.

228KENNEDY. May that great boor say such things to your face?

229Oh, it is hard!

230MARY (lost in thought).

231Back in our days of glory we heard flatterers

232Too willingly. It’s meet to hear reproach now.

233KENNEDY. So downcast, so discouraged, dearest Lady?

234You, once so merry that you would console me?

235[230] I sooner had to scold your flightiness than To chide your darker moods.

  • 17 For the historical basis of the long exposition that begins here, see the “Short Life of Mary Stuar (...)

236MARY. Oh, I know him!17

237The bloody shade of Darnley rises raging

238Out of the grave, to give me no earthly peace

239Until my wretchedness has reached full measure.

240KENNEDY. What sort of thinking—

241MARY. You forget, dear Hanna,

242But I remember faithfully. Just see!

243The day comes round again, the fateful deed.

  • 18 Hence the veil and Crucifix at Mary’s entrance, Scene Two, above.

244In memory of him I fast and atone.18

245KENNEDY. Lay this ghost, send this specter back to the grave.

246[240] You have atoned by years of pain and remorse.

247The Church and Heaven have long forgiven you.

248MARY. Guilt long forgiven, bleeding afresh, rises

249Again, young ever, out of its shallow grave.

250My husband’s ghost demanding revenge—no Host

251Raised in priest’s hand, no sound of the bell can send

252It back down into its last resting place.

253KENNEDY. No! It was not you! Others murdered him.

254MARY. I knew about it, let the deed go forward,

255I lured him, flattering his pride, into the trap.

256[250] KENNEDY. Your tender years soften your guilt. You were So young still.

257MARY. So young and yet burdened my

258Tender years with a guilt so heavy, so grave.

259KENNEDY. A bloody insult angered you and the

260Presumption of a man your love had lifted

261From deep obscurity, like the hand of God,

262Whom you led from your bridal bed to the throne,

263Whom you enriched by giving him both your

264Own person and your born right to the Crown.

265Could he forget his more than brilliant lot

266[260] Was the creation of your love and great heart?

267Full well he forgot, offended delicacy

268By low suspicion and crude practices.

269Thus he made himself loathsome in your eyes.

270The magic that had dazzled you went dark;

271Enraged, you rose and fled his shameful embraces,

272And laid him open to the general contempt.

273And he? Did he try to win back your favor?

274Or ask forgiveness? Throw himself at your feet,

275Promise to mend his ways? Defiance he offered.

276[270] This man who was your creature wanted to play

277Your king. And had the singer Rizzio, your favorite,

  • 19 Mary’s husband Darnley and others broke into a dinner party and murdered Rizzio before the pregnant (...)

278Run through before your eyes.19 And you, the Queen,

279Avenged with blood a deed so bloodily done.

280MARY. And bloodily will it seek revenge on me, too.

281Comforting me so, you make me guilty of it.

282KENNEDY. You were not yourself when you let it happen. Madness of love, blind love, had seized you and put you Under the yoke of that seducer, that Bothwell.

283A man’s overweening willfulness let him

284[280] Rule over you, brew hellish potions that Heated your senses—

285MARY. He had no other arts

  • 20 Veiled and obscure. Possibly an allusion to Bothwell’s having raped Mary, as rumor had it. See the (...)

286Than his strength of a man and my weakness.20

287KENNEDY. No, I say. One who numbed all your senses had To call for help from all the demons in Hell.

288You had no ear for warnings from a friend,

289No eye for bearing that becomes a queen.

290Modesty had forsaken you; your cheeks, once

291Given to blushing, flamed now with desire.

292You flung away the veil of reticence,

293[290] A man’s bold vice crushed your timidity.

294Barefaced, you put your disgrace on display:

295You had him, Darnley’s assassin, carry before you

296The royal sword of Scotland through the streets

297Of Edinburgh, cursed and scorned by the crowd; you

298Surrounded Parliament with armed guards; in the

299Temple of Justice you contrived his acquittal.

300You did not stop there—God!

301MARY. Go on and finish!

302I married him, gave him my hand at the altar.

303KENNEDY. May silence fall on such a deed! An outrage!

304[300] Worthy of one who’s lost. But you are not lost.

305I brought you up, I know you, know your soft heart,

306Open to shame. Your sole vice is foolishness.

307I tell you: There are evil spirits that

308Come over us, do something dreadful, then

309Flee back to Hell and leave us marked and aghast.

310But since this wanton deed, which blackens your life,

311You have committed no crime, I am witness.

312Courage therefore! Make peace now with yourself!

313Whatever your regrets, in England you’re guiltless.

314[310] Neither Elizabeth nor Parliament

315Can judge you. Force alone holds you. Before

316This insolent court you may take your place

317With all the courage of your innocence.

318MARY. Who’s coming there?

319(Mortimer appears in the doorway.)

320KENNEDY. It is the nephew. Go in.

Scene Five

321As above. Mortimer, entering cautiously.

322MORTIMER (to the Nurse).

323Go out. Keep watch before the door. I wish to

324Speak with the Queen.

325MARY (firmly). You stay here with me, Hanna.

326MORTIMER. You need not fear, my Lady. Know who I am.

327(He hands her a card.)

328MARY (reads the card and steps back in surprise). Ha!

329MORTIMER (to the Nurse). Go then, Dame Kennedy. See that my uncle

330Does not surprise us.

331MARY (to the Nurse, who hesitates). Go! Go! Do as he says.

332(The Nurse goes out, baffled.)

Scene Six

333Mortimer. Mary.

  • 21 Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine and Archbishop of Reims (d. 1574).

334[320] MARY. The Cardinal of Lorraine, my uncle!21 He writes:

335“Trust him who brings this, Mortimer, a knight.

336You’ve no more loyal friend in all England.”

337(Looking at Mortimer in astonishment)

338It’s possible? No fraud? A friend so near, when

339I thought myself abandoned by all the world—

340I find him in my keeper’s nephew, in whom

341I thought I saw my worst foe—

342MORTIMER (throwing himself at her feet). Lady, forgive this

343Despicable disguise that cost me much

344But lets me come near you to offer you

345Rescue and help.

346MARY. Stand up. Oh, what a surprise!

347[330] How sudden this great leap to hope from despair!

348Speak, sir. Am I to believe this happiness?

349MORTIMER (standing up). We’ve little time. My uncle is coming soon.

350A hateful man comes with him. Before their terrible

351Errand surprises you, learn Heaven’s rescue.

352MARY. These are the workings of Almighty God!

353MORTIMER. Permit me to begin with myself.

354MARY. Speak, sir!

355MORTIMER. Brought up and taught in strictest duty, my Queen, and

356Black hate of popery, I was twenty when a

357Resistless desire drove me to the Continent.

358[340] I left the puritans’ airless closets of preaching

359Behind in my homeland, crossed over France,

360Seeking my precious Italy with my heart.

361It was the festival time, all the ways

362Were thronged with pilgrims, as if all humanity

363Were wandering, making pilgrimage toward Heaven.

364Their throng swept me along till I reached Rome.

365What joy seized me, my Queen, as I arrived.

366The victory arches and towering columns came

367Toward me, the shining Colosseum embraced me,

368[350] A spirit of creation and high art Enclosed me in a serene wonderland!

369I’d never known the power of the arts.

370The church that raised me hates the charms of the senses,

371Suffers no image, only bodiless words. And

372What joy to enter those churches! Music cascaded

373From Heaven, figures sprang in fullness from walls

374And ceilings: the Annunciation, the birth of

375Our Lord, the blessed Virgin, the Three in One come

376Among us, and the glorious Transfiguration.

377[360] The Pope in splendor celebrated High Mass And blessed the people. What then is kings’ gold?

378He only is divine, His house a Kingdom

379Of Heaven, for these forms are not of this world.

380MARY. Oh, spare me! Do not spread life’s carpet before me.

381I am a prisoner deep in wretchedness.

382MORTIMER. I too was one. The prison doors sprang open, My spirit felt itself free, hailed life’s new day.

383I cursed stale books, I swore to wreathe my temples

384And dedicate myself to joyful things.

385[370] Noble Scots, lively Frenchmen brought me to Your worthy uncle, Cardinal Guise. What a man!

386The model of a king’s priest, true Prince of the Church.

387MARY. You saw him? Guide of my young years! Oh, say!

388He thinks of me? Is still a rock of the Church?

389MORTIMER. Graciously he became my teacher, showed me

390That reason misleads, eyes must see, and that the

391Faithful require a visible Head of the Church.

392My childish notions vanished under his teaching

393And his persuasion. I abandoned my error,

394[380] I believed, came back into the fold of the Church.

  • 22 Matthew 5-7.

395MARY. Thus you are one of thousands whom he moved by His speaking, like the Preacher on the Mount,22 And whom he led to their eternal salvation.

396MORTIMER. When he was called back to France, he sent me to Reims,

  • 23 Reims was a center where English Catholics in exile gathered and were trained for the priesthood, t (...)

397Where Jesuits trained priests and sent them to England.23

398I met the exiles Morgan and Lesley, learned

  • 24 John Morgan, a Welshman, Talbot’s secretary and Mary’s partisan; John Lesley, Scottish priest, Mary (...)

399Bishop of Ross, there,24 in whose parlor I

400Then saw a woman’s portrait of such charm,

401So gripping I could not contain my feelings.

402[390] The Bishop said: “Full well might you be touched.

403The loveliest of women is the most pitiful.

404She suffers for our faith—in your very country.”

405MARY. An honest man! His constant friendship in

406Misfortune shows me I have not yet lost all.

407MORTIMER. He told me of your martyrdom, of your enemies’

408Bloodlust, of your descent from Henry Tudor,

409Your claim more strong than that false queen’s, a bastard

410Whom Henry himself denied. I consulted,

411Took counsel in law and heraldry. All things

412[400] Confirmed: Your just right to England is your injustice.

413The Realm belongs to you, is your possession,

414Where, guiltless, you are held a prisoner.

415MARY. Wretched right! The one source of all my sorrow!

416MORTIMER. I learned you’d been removed from Talbot’s castle,

417Delivered to my uncle. I saw Heaven’s

418Rescue in this, fate’s call to lend you my arm

419And free you. All agree. The Cardinal gives me

420His blessing, teaches me the arts of disguise.

421I turn toward home and land here ten days ago. (He pauses.)

422[410] I saw you, Lady, you yourself, no portrait.

423A treasure locked here in this castle—

424No prison, this, instead a hall of the gods,

425More brilliant than the royal court of England.

426Happy the man who breathes this air with you!

427Quite right that she should keep you hidden from view!

428England’s youth would all rise up, insurrection

429Sweep through the land, should Britons see their Queen.

430MARY. Happy is she, should they see her with your eyes! MORTIMER. Were they, like me, witness to your pain, your patience,

431[420] Composure before unworthy things. A queen still, You go forth from all trials, your beauty still brilliant.

432Deprived of all things that make our lives sweet,

433You yet live bathed always in light and life.

434Just to behold you is torment and delight!

435But let me not delay yet longer. One must

436Decide, for danger presses. I’ll not conceal—

437MARY. Judgment has fallen? I am able to hear it.

438MORTIMER. Has fallen. Forty-two lords have found you guilty. Both the Lords and the Commons, London, too,

439[430] Demand a speedy execution, only The Queen delays, a ruse so others will force her—

440Not out of pity or intention to spare you.

441MARY (composed). Sir Mortimer, you bring me no surprise, No shock. I’ve long expected this outcome.

442I know my judges. Given wrongs I have suffered,

443One cannot set me free. I know what they aim for.

444They’ll keep me in perpetual prison, bury

445My claim to justice and my rightful revenge,

446Along with me, in prison’s eternal night.

447[440] MORTIMER. They’ll not stop there, my Lady. Tyranny does its

448Work thoroughly. As long as you live, the fear

449Of England’s Queen lives on. No prison can bury

450You deep enough. Your death alone saves her throne.

451MARY. She’d dare lay my crowned head down on the block?

452MORTIMER. She will dare. Do not doubt it.

453MARY. She would so blot

454Her majesty and that of all Europe’s kings?

455Does she not fear revenge exacted by France?

  • 25 This Duke of Anjou, François de Valois, younger brother of King Henry III, died 1584. Here and else (...)

456MORTIMER. She’ll soon conclude an endless peace with France. She’s offered the Duke of Anjou hand and throne.25

457[450] MARY. The King of Spain will not declare war?

458MORTIMER. She

459Does not fear a whole world at war as longAs she can count on peace at home—with her people.

460MARY. She’d offer such a spectacle to Britons?

461MORTIMER. Britons, my Lady, have seen lately more

462Than one fair woman leave the throne for the scaffold.

463Elizabeth’s own mother went that way

  • 26 Elizabeth’s mother was Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife; Catherine Howard was his fifth. Lady Jane (...)

464And Catherine Howard and young Lady Jane Grey.26

465MARY (after a pause). Noble concern for me deceives you, Mortimer.

466I fear no scaffold. Other means, more quiet,

467[460] Can assure England’s Queen peace from my claims.

468A murderer is hired before a headsman’s found.

469That’s what I fear. I never set a wine glass

470To my lips but I think it spiced with her love.

471MORTIMER. Secret nor open murder shall succeed here.

472For twelve young noblemen of the land in my

473Alliance swore this morning on the Host

474To lead you from this castle by force of arms.

475Count Aubespine, French ambassador, knows of our vow And offers help. We gather in his palace.

476[470] MARY. I tremble, sir, and not for pleasure. Do

477You know what you are doing? Babington’s

478And Tichbourne’s bloody heads hoist up on pikes

  • 27 For Babington see note 6, above. Chidiock Tichbourne took part in Babington’s plot. They were spect (...)

479On London Bridge—do they not warn you?27 Not

480The countless others daring death like them?

481Who only made my chains the heavier? Flee,

482Misguided boy. Flee while there is still time. If

483The sharp-eyed Burghley does not know of you,

484Has not already set a traitor among you.

485Flee from this realm! No happy man has ever

486[480] Saved Mary Stuart.

487MORTIMER. Neither Babington’s

488Nor Tichbourne’s bloody head hoist up on pikes

489On London Bridge, nor countless others daring

490Death can deter me. Did they not all find

491Eternal fame? My joy is dying to save you.

492MARY. In vain! No force nor ruse can save me. No help.

493The foe is ever watchful, power is his.

494Not Paulet, not his watchmen—no! —all England

495Hovers, keeps watch and guards my prison’s gates.

496Elizabeth alone, of her free will,

497[490] Can open them for me.

498MORTIMER. Never hope that!

499MARY. One man there is yet able to do so.

500MORTIMER. Name him!

501Name him!

502MARY. Earl Leicester.

503MORTIMER (stepping back, astonished). Leicester! Earl Leicester! Your

504Bloodiest pursuer, favorite of Elizabeth—

505MARY. If I am to be rescued, then by him.

506Go to him. Tell him all. As proof that I sent you,

507Give him this letter with my likeness enclosed.

508(She takes a paper from her bosom; Mortimer hesitates.)

509Do take it. I’ve long carried it—your uncle

510Blocked every path. My angel sent you to me—

511MORTIMER. My Queen, this riddle—

512MARY. Earl Leicester will solve it.

513[500] If you trust him, he will trust you. — Who’s coming?

514KENNEDY (entering hurriedly). Sir Paulet with a lord from Court.

515MORTIMER. Lord Burghley.

516Prepare yourself, Queen! Steel your heart for what he brings.

517(He goes out by a side door; Kennedy follows.)

Scene Seven

518Mary. Baron Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England. Knight Paulet.

519PAULET. Today you wished for certainty of your fate.

520That my Lord Burghley brings you. Bear it with patience.

521MARY. With dignity of innocence, I hope.

522BURGHLEY. I come as emissary of the court.

523MARY. Lord Burghley lent the court his mind. Dutifully He now comes to me to lend it his mouth.

524BURGHLEY. You speak as if you knew the verdict already.

525[510] MARY. Lord Burghley brings it. Therefore it is known.

526To business, sir.

527BURGHLEY. You have submitted yourself to

528The court of two and forty lords, my Lady—

529MARY. Forgive me that I break in here at the start.

530“Submitted myself,” I hear you say? No wise

531Could I submit, could I so much concede of

  • 28 Mary’s son became James VI of Scotland and James I of England. He is mentioned only here.

532My rank, my people’s worth, and my son’s,28 and

533The worth of all the princes of this world.

534English law orders and prescribes that one

535Accused be tried by jury of his peers.

536[520] What man of that tribunal was my peer?

537My peers are kings, kings only.

538BURGHLEY. You heard the articles

539Of accusation read you, spoke to the

540Point in court—

541MARY. I let myself be misled

542By Hatton’s bad faith. Believing my grounds good and

543For honor’s sake I heard the accusation

544And showed its bad grounds. This I did in respect of

545The person of the lords and not of their office,

546Which I reject.

547BURGHLEY. That you accept or reject them

548Is a formality, my Lady, no more,

549[530] And cannot hamper the proceedings of court.

550You breathe the air of England, enjoy protection

551Of England’s laws, are subject to its justice.

552MARY. I breathe the air of an English prison. Is that

553Protection of the laws? I hardly know

554English law, never have consented to keep it.

555I am no citizen of this realm but

556Queen of another.

557BURGHLEY. Holding license to sow

558Dissension here among us? What then if

559The sword of justice could not reach a royal

560[540] Stranger any more than a poor man’s bare head?

561MARY. I have no wish to escape a reckoning;

562I take exception only to my judges.

563BURGHLEY. Your judges? Are they outcasts? Barkers? Shop boys?

564Are they not men of the first order, truthful

565And independent, above bribery and fear?

566The men who rule a noble people, free

567And just, whose names alone suffice to banish

568Doubt and suspicion? At their head the Primate

569Of Canterbury, the wise Talbot, who keeps the

  • 29 George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, is a major figure in the play and counterweight to Burghley. Mar (...)

570[550] Great Seal,29 and Howard, our Lord High Admiral?

571Say! Could the ruler over England do better

572Than choose the noblest and appoint them judges

573Of a dispute of royalty? Could base

574Motives unite forty such men in one verdict?

575MARY (after a silence).

576I hear, astonished, the pure force of that mouth,

577Ever for me a harbinger of doom.

578How shall I, untaught woman, take up the challenge

579A speaker of such eloquence throws down?

580Fine! Were these lords as you describe them, I’d

581[560] Fall silent, my cause lost, should they find me guilty.

582I see these men, whose names are meant to crush me,

583Play roles quite different in the history of England.

584I see high noblemen play seraglio slave to

585The sultan’s moods of Henry Tudor, my uncle.

586I see both the Lords and the biddable Commons

587Make laws, revoke them, bind and loose wedlock to

588King’s orders, disown princes’ daughters today, brand

589Them bastards, and then crown them queen, come the morrow. I see these worthy peers change their confession

  • 30 The reigns in question are those of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth, as reigning a (...)

590[570] Four times precisely, under four reigns.30 BURGHLEY. You call yourself a stranger to England’s laws, England’s misfortunes are no stranger to you.

591MARY. I would be just toward you, my Lord High Treasurer, Be you no less so toward me. They say you Are well-intentioned toward the State, toward your Queen, Are incorruptible, watchful and tireless.

592I believe it. You are ruled alone by interests

593Of country and sovereign. For that reason, beware! Let

594Interests of state not seem like justice to you.

595[580] I doubt not there are noble men beside you Among my judges; they are Protestants;

596Defending England’s welfare, they pass judgment

597Upon me, Queen of Scotland and a Catholic.

598Briton nor Scot is ever just toward the other.

599That is proverbial. Neither may bear witness

600Against the other. Ancient custom is honored!

601Nature herself threw them together on

602A slender plank in the sea, said, “Fight it out!”

603The narrow Tweed presents too thin a boundary.

604[590] No foes press England whom Scots do not join, On civil war in Scotland England heaps tinder.

605Hatred will not die until one Parliament

606Joins them, a single scepter rules this Island.

607BURGHLEY. A Stuart is to bring this joy to the Realm?

608MARY. Should I deny it? I admit: I dreamt of

609Uniting both folk in the shade of the olive.

610I never dreamt that I’d be sacrificed to

611Their ancient hatred. Like my ancestor Richmond,

  • 31 Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, ended the War of the Roses, between the houses of Lancaster and York (...)

612I wished to entwine the two kingdoms like roses.31

613[600] BURGHLEY. You chose a crooked path to reach this end, Gaining the throne through flames of civil war.

614MARY. Never did I want that, by all that is holy!

615When did I want that? Tell me! Where are the proofs?

616BURGHLEY. I did not come here to dispute. It is proven.

617Forty against two have concluded you broke

  • 32 This is the Act for the Queen’s Safety, passed by Parliament in the wake of a long series of plots (...)

618The Act of last year and are subject to justice.32

619That law provides: “If tumult arise in the Kingdom

620To the advantage and in name of one who

621Asserts rights to the Crown, that person shall be

622[610] Arraigned and if found guilty, put to death.”

623It being proven—

624MARY. My Lord Burghley! I Do not doubt that a measure framed expressly

625For me, to ruin me, lets itself be applied.

626Pity the victim when one same hand made law,

627Then passes judgment. Do you deny, my Lord, that

628This law was thought up to undo me?

629BURGHLEY. Rather,

630To warn you. It’s you have made it into a trap.

631You saw the abyss before you and plunged in. You

632Were one with Babington, the traitor, and

633[620] His henchmen, knew of everything, directed The plot from prison.

634MARY. When did I do that?

635Produce the proofs

636BURGHLEY. All these were shown you in court.

637MARY. Copies I saw! And in an unknown hand!

638Let proof be brought that I dictated those notes

639And in the form in which they were read aloud.

640BURGHLEY. That Babington, before he died, attested

641Them in the form he had received.

642MARY. And why

643Was he not brought before me? He was bustled

644Out of the world beforehand. Why the great haste?

645[630] BURGHLEY. Your two scribes, Curle and Nau, assert on oath

  • 33 Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle were Mary’s secretaries. Their testimony was false.

646They wrote exactly as you told them to do.33

647MARY. One damns me on the witness of my servants?

648Men who, betraying me, betray their duty?

649BURGHLEY. You, too, declared the Scot Curle honest and true.

650MARY. As such I knew him. Only danger tests virtue.

651He thought to save himself, with scant harm to me.

652BURGHLEY. He swore it freely.

653MARY. Not to my face! What, sir?

654Those witnesses live yet! Let them be brought

655Before me, let both testify to my face!

656[640] I know from Talbot, once my keeper, of a

657New measure passed providing that accuser

658Meet accused face to face. Is it not so,

659Sir Paulet? I know you an honest man.

660In England there is such a law?

661PAULET. There is such, Lady. That is law among us.

662I must speak truth.

663MARY. How now, my Lord? If one

664Is strict where English law’s against me, may one

665Evade a law turned in my favor? An answer!

666Wherefore was Babington not brought before me

667[650] According to law? Why not both my scribes, Who are yet living?

668BURGHLEY. Not alone your collusion

669With Babington—

670MARY. Alone that. That alone puts me to the law,

671That charge alone am I obliged to defeat.

672BURGHLEY. It’s proven you had contact with the Spanish Ambassador—

673MARY (heated). But you evade me, my Lord!

674BURGHLEY. —and that you schemed to bring down our land’s religion,

675You stirred up all the kings in Europe against us.

676MARY. And if I did? I did not. But if I did?

677[660] My Lord! I am held here against all law

678Of nations. A supplicant, I entered here,

679Requiring sacred hospitality,

680Asking protection of a queen of my kin.

681They seized me, shackled me— Just tell me this!

682Is my conscience bound to this state? Have I duties

683Toward England? It is my most sacred right

684To struggle against such bonds, meet force with force,

685To raise all states in Europe to my defense.

686All that is accepted, right and honest in war—

687[670] That I may do. Not murder. Pride and conscience

688Forbid that. Murder dishonors me—dishonors,

689Not damns me, does not subject me to justice.

690Of justice there can be no question between

691England and me. Force is our sole resort.

692BURGHLEY (with meaning).

693Do not presume the awful rights of raw power,

694My Lady. For they little favor a prisoner.

695MARY. Quite right. I am the weak one, she the strong.

696So be it. Let her use her power, let

697Her kill me, bring such victim to her safety.

698[680] But let her then confess that she has used

699Force and not justice. Let no claim noise abroad,

700Fooling the world, that it’s a lawful sword

701She wields to rid herself of her hated foe!

702Murder me—that she can, but not judge me.

703She cleanse her face of the paints of virtue’s charade

704And show herself to the world just as she is made.

705(She goes off.)

Scene Eight

706Burghley. Paulet.

707BURGHLEY. She spites us, will spite us until she reaches The scaffold steps. She will not let us break her.

708Was she surprised to hear the verdict? Did you

709[690] See her face change? She has no need of our pity.

710She knows the doubts of England’s Queen and our

711Fears give her courage.

712PAULET. This defiance will vanish

713When it has lost its grounds. We’ve not proceeded

714Faultlessly here, sir, if I may say so.

715Tichbourne and Babington ought to have been brought

716Before her, and her scribes.

717BURGHLEY (quickly). Oh, no! One dared not!

718Her influence and the force of woman’s tears

719Are too great. Curle, obliged to speak against

720Her to her face, would retract his confession—

721[700] PAULET. And England’s foes will fill the world with rumors And make a shameless crime of her solemn trial.

722BURGHLEY. Exactly what our Queen fears. Had this trouble-Maker but died before she set foot in England!

723PAULET. Amen to that!

724BURGHLEY. Or sickness in prison snatched

725Her away!

726PAULET. That had spared us much.

727BURGHLEY. Or pure chance

728Removed her. — They’d still call us murderers though.

729PAULET. True. Men will always think whatever they please.

730BURGHLEY. No one could prove it. It would raise less noise—

731PAULET. Let it! One fears not loud but just reproach.

732[710] BURGHLEY. Why even holy justice does not escape blame.

733The sword of justice, ornament in a man’s hand,

734Abhorrent wielded by a woman, becomes

735Abomination used against a woman.

736The world believes woman never just toward woman.

737We judges spoke our conscience in vain. Mercy is a

738King’s right. She dare not let the law run its course.

739PAULET. The Lady then—

740BURGHLEY (quickly). Should live? No! Not at all!

741She cannot live. Just that is what our Queen fears.

742I read her struggle in her eyes. She’ll not speak;

743[720] Her eyes ask: Is there none among my servants

744To spare me the choice: or fear and trembling on

745My throne or royal kin put to the knife?

746PAULET. Such is necessity. It’s not to be changed.

747BURGHLEY. It would be changed were her servants attentive.

748PAULET. Attentive!

749BURGHLEY. Acting on a silent charge.

750PAULET. A silent charge!

751BURGHLEY. Not keeping a poisonous snake

752Like treasure.

753PAULET (with meaning). Good name is a treasure like none.

754One guards the Queen’s unspotted name like gold.

755BURGHLEY. Back at the time one took the Lady from Shrewsbury,

756[730] Confided her to Paulet’s keeping, the thought was—

757PAULET. The thought, I hope, was to entrust the hardest

758Task to the cleanest hands. By God! I’d have never

759Taken this odious office, did I not think it

760Required the best man in all England. Let me

761Not think it owed to other than my good name.

762BURGHLEY. One spreads abroad she is failing, lets her become More and more sick, then vanish in all stillness—

763Thus she will die in the memory of men—

764And your name is ever spotless.

765PAULET. Not my conscience.

766[740] BURGHLEY. If you’ll not lend your own hand, just not block—

767PAULET (interrupts). Under my roof no murderer shall come near her.

768My house gods keep her, her head’s sacred to me.

769That of the Queen of England is no more so.

770You are the judges! So judge! Break the staff!

771And when the time comes, let your workmen with axe and

772Saw enter and erect the scaffold. Sheriff

773And headsman shall find my castle’s gates open.

774She’s given me to keep safe. Safe I shall keep her.

775No evil shall she do, and no evil reach her.

776(They go off.)

Notes

1 The device of the House of Valois: three golden lilies against a ground of blue.

2 At Stirling Castle, near Edinburgh, Mary’s son James was baptized. Her enemies claimed that her husband, Darnley, withdrew and was served on pewter, while Mary and Bothwell, her lover, were served on gold.

3 The exchange that follows plots Paulet’s Protestant stringency against the Catholic ease of Mary’s custom.

4 For these events in Mary’s early history, see the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.”

5 A recurrent motif and an important argument in Mary’s behalf.

6 Two of the many plots to deliver Mary from captivity. William Parry was convicted of plotting—without Mary’s knowledge—to assassinate Queen Elizabeth (1585). Anthony Babington, once Mary’s page, led a similar plot, which Mary seems to have sanctioned (1586).

7 Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, of the highest English nobility, conspired with Spain to deliver Mary. His ambition was to marry her (1571).

8 Helen of Troy. Fabulously beautiful wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, she eloped with her husband’s guest, Paris, to Troy. A Greek army followed. The Trojan War of Homer’s Iliad lasted ten years.

9 See the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.”

10 Mary Tudor, called Bloody Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon. Queen of England, 1553-58, eventually married to Philip of Spain. Her reign saw Catholicism restored in England.

11 One of several abortive attempts to regularize relations among the royal houses of England, Scotland, and France (1560).

12 This is unhistorical Mortimer, who enters in Scene Three.

13 William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Elizabeth’s valued advisor, made Lord High Treasurer 1572.

14 The play opens at the ripe moment: Mary has been tried, as she describes, and is waiting to hear the outcome of that trial.

15 Sir Christopher Hatton presided over Mary’s trial.

16 The passage fairly vibrates with dramatic irony.

17 For the historical basis of the long exposition that begins here, see the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.”

18 Hence the veil and Crucifix at Mary’s entrance, Scene Two, above.

19 Mary’s husband Darnley and others broke into a dinner party and murdered Rizzio before the pregnant Mary.

20 Veiled and obscure. Possibly an allusion to Bothwell’s having raped Mary, as rumor had it. See the “Short Life of Mary Stuart.” Bothwell’s brutishness, both physical and mental, is cited whenever he is spoken of. See, for example, lines 951ff. and 1723f.

21 Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine and Archbishop of Reims (d. 1574).

22 Matthew 5-7.

23 Reims was a center where English Catholics in exile gathered and were trained for the priesthood, then dispatched back to England.

24 John Morgan, a Welshman, Talbot’s secretary and Mary’s partisan; John Lesley, Scottish priest, Mary’s confidant and eventual Bishop of Ross.

25 This Duke of Anjou, François de Valois, younger brother of King Henry III, died 1584. Here and elsewhere Schiller has handled chronology freely.

26 Elizabeth’s mother was Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife; Catherine Howard was his fifth. Lady Jane Grey figured in a long struggle over Henry’s succession.

27 For Babington see note 6, above. Chidiock Tichbourne took part in Babington’s plot. They were spectacularly executed to discourage further plotting.

28 Mary’s son became James VI of Scotland and James I of England. He is mentioned only here.

29 George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, is a major figure in the play and counterweight to Burghley. Mary was long in his lenient custody before being transferred to Sir Amias Paulet and harsher conditions. Historically he was not Lord Privy Seal.

30 The reigns in question are those of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth, as reigning authority wavered between Catholic and Protestant.

31 Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, ended the War of the Roses, between the houses of Lancaster and York, took the throne as Henry VII, and united the kingdom.

32 This is the Act for the Queen’s Safety, passed by Parliament in the wake of a long series of plots to free Mary.

33 Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle were Mary’s secretaries. Their testimony was false.

Table des illustrations

Légende Tableau représentant Marie Stuart, reine de France et d’Écosse. Château de Blois. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/​wiki/​File:Blois_-_tableau_Marie_Stuart.jpg
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