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SCENE.—PYGMALION’S Studio, containing a Statue of GALATEA, before which curtains are drawn.
Pygmalion. “The thing is but a statue after all!” | |
| Cynisca little thought that in those words | |
| She touch’d the key-note of my discontent. | |
| True, I have powers denied to other men; | |
| Give me a block of senseless marble—well, | 5 |
| I ’m a magician, and it rests with me | |
| To say what kernel lies within its shell; | |
| It shall contain a man, a woman—child— | |
| A dozen men and women if I will. | |
| So far the gods and I run neck and neck; | 10 |
| Nay, so far I can beat them at their trade! | |
| I am no bungler—all the men I make | |
| Are straight-limb’d fellows, each magnificent | |
| In the perfection of his manly grace: | |
| I make no crook-backs—all my men are gods, | 15 |
| My women goddesses—in outward form. | |
| But there ’s my tether! I can go so far, | |
| And go no farther! At that point I stop, | |
| To curse the bonds that hold me sternly back; | |
| To curse the arrogance of those proud gods, | 20 |
| Who say, “Thou shalt be greatest among man, | |
| And yet infinitesimally small!” | |
| Galatea. Pygmalion! | |
| Pyg. Who called? | |
| Gal. Pygmalion! | 25 |
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[PYGMALION tears away curtain and discovers GALATEA alive.
Pyg. Ye gods! It lives! | |
| Gal. Pygmalion! | |
| Pyg. It speaks! | |
| I have my prayer! my Galatea breathes! | |
| Gal. Where am I? Let me speak, Pygmalion; | 30 |
| Give me thy hand—both hands—how soft and warm! | |
| Whence came I? [Descends. | |
| Pyg. Why, from yonder pedestal! | |
| Gal. That pedestal? Ah, yes! I recollect | |
| There was a time when it was part of me. | 35 |
| Pyg. That time has passed forever: thou art now | |
| A living, breathing woman, excellent | |
| In every attribute of womankind. | |
| Gal. Where am I, then? | |
| Pyg. Why, born into the world | 40 |
| By miracle! | |
| Gal. Is this the world? | |
| Pyg. It is. | |
| Gal. This room? | |
| Pyg. This room is portion of a house; | 45 |
| The house stands in a grove; the grove itself | |
| Is one of many, many hundred groves | |
| In Athens. | |
| Gal. And is Athens, then, the world? | |
| Pyg. To an Athenian—yes. | 50 |
| Gal. And I am one? | |
| Pyg. By birth and parentage, not by descent. | |
| Gal. But how came I to be? | |
| Pyg. Well—let me see. | |
| Oh—you were quarried in Pentelicus; | 55 |
| I modell’d you in clay—my artisans | |
| Then rough’d you out in marble—I, in turn, | |
| Brought my artistic skill to bear on you, | |
| And made you what you are—in all but life; | |
| The gods completed what I had begun, | 60 |
| And gave the only gift I could not give! | |
| Gal. Then this is life? | |
| Pyg. It is. | |
| Gal. And not long since | |
| I was a cold, dull stone? I recollect | 65 |
| That by some means I knew that I was stone: | |
| That was the first dull gleam of consciousness; | |
| I became conscious of a chilly self, | |
| A cold, immovable identity. | |
| I knew that I was stone, and knew no more! | 70 |
| Then, by an imperceptible advance, | |
| Came the dim evidence of outer things, | |
| Seen—darkly and imperfectly, yet seen— | |
| The walls surrounding me, and I alone. | |
| That pedestal—that curtain—then a voice | 75 |
| That call’d on Galatea! At that word, | |
| Which seem’d to shake my marble to the core, | |
| That which was dim before came evident; | |
| Sounds that had humm’d around me, indistinct, | |
| Vague, meaningless, seem’d to resolve themselves | 80 |
| Into a language I could understand; | |
| I felt my frame pervaded by a glow | |
| That seem’d to thaw my marble into flesh. | |
| Its cold, hard substance throbb’d with active life; | |
| My limbs grew supple, and I mov’d—I liv’d! | 85 |
| Liv’d in the ecstacy of new-born life! | |
| Liv’d in the love of him that fashion’d me! | |
| Liv’d in a thousand tangled thoughts of hope, | |
| Love, gratitude,—thoughts that resolv’d themselves | |
| Into one word, that word Pygmalion! [Kneels to him. | 90 |
| Pyg. I have no words to tell thee of my joy, | |
| O woman—perfect in thy loveliness! | |
| Gal. What is that word? Am I a woman? | |
| Pyg. Yes. | |
| Gal. Art thou a woman? | 95 |
| Pyg. No, I am a man. | |
| Gal. What is a man? | |
| Pyg. A being strongly fram’d | |
| To wait on woman, and protect her from | |
| All ills that strength and courage can avert; | 100 |
| To work and toil for her, that she may rest; | |
| To weep and mourn for her, that she may laugh; | |
| To fight and die for her, that she may live! | |
| Gal. [After a pause.] I ’m glad I am a woman. | |
| Pyg. So am I. [They sit. | 105 |
| Gal. That I escape the pains thou hast to bear? | |
| Pyg. That I may undergo those pains for thee. | |
| Gal. With whom, then, wouldst thou fight? | |
| Pyg. With any man | |
| Whose deed or word gave Galatea pain. | 110 |
| Gal. Then there are other men in this strange world? | |
| Pyg. There are, indeed! | |
| Gal. And other women? | |
| Pyg. [Taken aback.] Yes. | |
| Though for a moment I ’d forgotten it! | 115 |
| Yes, other women. | |
| Gal. And for all of these | |
| Men work, and toil, and mourn, and weep, and fight? | |
| Pyg. It is man’s duty, if he ’s call’d upon, | |
| To fight for all: he works for those he loves. | 120 |
| Gal. Then by thy work I know thou lovest me. | |
| Pyg. Indeed, I love thee! [Embraces her. | |
| Gal. With what kind of love? | |
| Pyg. I love thee [recollecting himself and releasing her] as a sculptor loves his work! | |
| [Aside.] There ’s a diplomacy in that reply. | 125 |
| Gal. My love is different in kind to thine: | |
| I am no sculptor, and I ’ve done no work, | |
| Yet I do love thee: say, what love is mine? | |
| Pyg. Tell me its symptoms, then I ’ll answer thee. | |
| Gal. Its symptoms? Let me call them as they come. | 130 |
| A sense that I am made by thee for thee; | |
| That I ’ve no will that is not wholly thine; | |
| That I ’ve no thought, no hope, no enterprise | |
| That does not own thee as its sovereign; | |
| That I have life, that I may live for thee, | 135 |
| That I am thine—that thou and I are one! | |
| What kind of love is that? | |
| Pyg. A kind of love | |
| That I shall run some risk in dealing with! | |
| Gal. And why, Pygmalion? | 140 |
| Pyg. Such love as thine | |
| A man may not receive, except indeed | |
| From one who is, or is to be, his wife! | |
| Gal. Then I will be thy wife! | |
| Pyg. That may not be; | 145 |
| I have a wife—the gods allow but one. | |
| Gal. Why did the gods, then, send me here to thee? | |
| Pyg. I cannot say—unless to punish me | |
| For unreflecting and presumptuous prayer. | |
| I pray’d that shouldst live—I have my prayer, | 150 |
| And now I see the fearful consequence | |
| That must attend it! | |
| Gal. Yet thou lovest me? | |
| Pyg. Who could look on that face and stifle love? | |
| Gal. Then I am beautiful? | 155 |
| Pyg. Indeed thou art. | |
| Gal. I wish that I could look upon myself, | |
| But that ’s impossible. | |
| Pyg. Not so indeed. | |
| This mirror will reflect thy face. Behold! [Hands her a mirror. | 160 |
| Gal. How beautiful! I ’m very glad to know | |
| That both our tastes agree so perfectly; | |
| Why, my Pygmalion, I did not think | |
| That aught could be more beautiful than thou, | |
| Till I beheld myself. Believe me, love, | 165 |
| I could look in this mirror all day long. | |
| So I ’m a woman? | |
| Pyg. There ’s no doubt of that! | |
| Gal. Oh happy maid, to be so passing fair! | |
| And happier still Pygmalion, who can gaze, | 170 |
| At will, upon so beautiful a face! | |
| Pyg. Hush, Galatea! in thine innocence | |
| Thou sayest things that others would reprove. | |
| Gal. Indeed, Pygmalion? Then it is wrong | |
| To think that one is exquisitely fair? | 175 |
| Pyg. Well, Galatea, it ’s a sentiment | |
| That every other woman shares with thee; | |
| They think it, but they keep it to themselves. | |
| Gal. And is thy wife as beautiful as I? | |
| Pyg. No, Galatea, for in forming thee | 180 |
| I took her features—lovely in themselves— | |
| And in the marble made them lovelier still. | |
| Gal. [Disappointed.] Oh! then I ’m not original? | |
| Pyg. Well—no— | |
| That is—thou hast indeed a prototype; | 185 |
| But though in stone thou didst resemble her, | |
| In life the difference is manifest. | |
| Gal. I ’m very glad I am lovelier than she. | |
| And am I better? | |
| Pyg. That I do not know. | 190 |
| Gal. Then she has faults? | |
| Pyg. But very few indeed; | |
| Mere trivial blemishes, that serve to show | |
| That she and I are of one common kin. | |
| I love her all the better for such faults! | 195 |
| Gal. [After a pause.] Tell me some faults and I ’ll commit them now. | |
| Pyg. There is no hurry; they will come in time: | |
| Though, for that matter, it ’s a grievous sin | |
| To sit as lovingly as we sit now. | |
| Gal. Is sin so pleasant? If to sit and talk, | 200 |
| As we are sitting, be indeed a sin, | |
| Why, I could sin all day! But tell me, love, | |
| Is this great fault, that I ’m committing now, | |
| The kind of fault that only serves to show | |
| That thou and I are of one common kin? | 205 |
| Pyg. Indeed, I ’m very much afraid it is. | |
| Gal. And dost thou love me better for such fault? | |
| Pyg. Where is the mortal that could answer “No”? | |
| Gal. Why, then I ’m satisfied, Pygmalion; | |
| Thy wife and I can start on equal terms. | 210 |
| She loves thee? | |
| Pyg. Very much. | |
| Gal. I am glad of that. | |
| I like thy wife. | |
| Pyg. And why? | 215 |
| Gal. Our tastes agree. | |
| We love Pygmalion well, and, what is more, | |
| Pygmalion loves us both. I like thy wife; | |
| I ’m sure we shall agree. | |
| Pyg. [Aside.] I doubt it much! | 220 |
| Gal. Is she within? | |
| Pyg. No, she is not within. | |
| Gal. But she ’ll come back? | |
| Pyg. Oh, yes, she will come back. | |
| Gal. How pleas’d she ’ll be to know, when she returns, | 225 |
| That there was some one here to fill her place! | |
| Pyg. [Dryly.] Yes, I should say she ’d be extremely pleas’d. | |
| Gal. Why, there is something in thy voice which says | |
| That thou art jesting! Is it possible | |
| To say one thing and mean another? | 230 |
| Pyg. Yes, | |
| It ’s sometimes done. | |
| Gal. How very wonderful! | |
| So clever! | |
| Pyg. And so very useful. | 235 |
| Gal. Yes.Teach me the art. | |
| Pyg. The art will come in time. | |
| My wife will not be pleas’d; there—that ’s the truth. | |
| Gal. I do not think that I shall like thy wife. | 240 |
| Tell me more of her. | |
| Pyg. Well— | |
| Gal. What did she say | |
| When last she left thee? | |
| Pyg. Humph! Well, let me see: | 245 |
| Oh! true, she gave thee to me as my wife,— | |
| Her solitary representative; | |
| She fear’d I should be lonely till she came, | |
| And counsell’d me, if thoughts of love should come, | |
| To speak those thoughts to thee, as I am wont | 250 |
| To speak to her. | |
| Gal. That ’s right. | |
| Pyg. But when she spoke | |
| Thou wast a stone, now thou art flesh and blood, | |
| Which makes a difference! | 255 |
| Gal. It ’s a strange world! | |
| A woman loves her husband very much, | |
| And cannot brook that I should love him, too! | |
| She fears he will be lonely till she comes, | |
| And will not let me cheer his loneliness! | 260 |
| She bids him breathe his love to senseless stone, | |
| And, when that stone is brought to life, be dumb! | |
| It ’s a strange world—I cannot fathom it! | |
| Pyg. [Aside.] Let me be brave and put an end to this. | |
| [Aloud.] Come, Galatea—till my wife returns, | 265 |
| My sister shall provide thee with a home; | |
| Her house is close at hand. | |
| Gal. [Astonished and alarmed.] Send me not hence, | |
| Pygmalion—let me stay. | |
| Pyg. It may not be. | 270 |
| Come, Galatea, we shall meet again. | |
| Gal. [Resignedly.] Do with me as thou wilt, Pygmalion! | |
| But we shall meet again?—and very soon? | |
| Pyg. Yes, very soon. | |
| Gal. And when thy wife returns, | 275 |
| She ’ll let me stay with thee? | |
| Pyg. I do not know. | |
| [Aside.] Why should I hide the truth from her? [Aloud.] Alas! | |
| I may not see thee then. | |
| Gal. Pygmalion! | 280 |
| What fearful words are these? | |
| Pyg. The bitter truth. | |
| I may not love thee—I must send thee hence. | |
| Gal. Recall those words, Pygmalion, my love! | |
| Was it for this that Heaven gave me life? | 285 |
| Pygmalion, have mercy on me; see, | |
| I am thy work, thou hast created me; | |
| The gods have sent me to thee. I am thine, | |
| Thine! only and unalterably thine! | |
| This is the thought with which my soul is charged. | 290 |
| Thou tellest me of one who claims thy love, | |
| That thou hast love for her alone. Alas! | |
| I do not know these things—I only know | |
| That Heaven has sent me here to be with thee! | |
| Thou tellest me of duty to thy wife, | 295 |
| Of vows that thou wilt love but her. Alas! | |
| I do not know these things—I only know | |
| That Heaven, who sent me here, has given me | |
| One all-absorbing duty to discharge— | |
To love thee, and to make thee love again!
[During this speech PYGMALION has shown symptoms of irresolution; at its conclusion he takes her in his arms, and embraces her. | 300 |
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