Act III
Scene.—A small, dark room in the house lent by Don Sallust to Ruy Blas. It is late at night, and Ruy Blas is pacing up and down in a state of wild agitation.
Ruy Blas: I only am a pawn with which he plays
Against the queen. He seeks to ruin her
By means of me. No! I will save her yet.
Save her and lose her! Cunning though you are,
Don Sallust, you have overlooked one thing;
Even a lackey will lay down his life
To save a noble woman whom he loves
From ruin and dishonour.
[Going to the table, he pours something into glass.
Oh, my queen!
Never more shall we meet upon this earth.
[As he raises the glass to his lips, The Queen enters.
The Queen: Don Cesar!
Ruy Blas: Oh, my God, my God!
The Queen: Fear not.
Ruy Blas: What has brought you here?
The Queen: Your letter, Cesar.
Ruy Blas: Letter? I have sent
No letter.
The Queen: What is this, then? Look and read.
[She gives him the note he wrote for Don Sallust as his lackey.
Ruy Blas (reading it): "My life is in great danger.
You alone can save me."
The Queen (continuing): "Come this evening to my house.
No one will recognise you if you use
The side door by the corner." Here's your name, "Cesar."
Ruy Blas: Go! Go! It is a plot against you.
I cannot now explain. Fly for your life!
The Queen: But you are in great danger. No! I'll stay,
And help you, Cesar.
Ruy Blas: Go, I tell you! Go!
The letter is not mine. Who let you in?
Don Sallust (striding into the room): I did.
Ruy Blas: Go, madam, while the way is clear.
Don Sallust: It is too late. Doña Maria is
No longer Queen of Spain.
The Queen (in terror): What, then, am I?
Don Sallust: A lady who has sold her throne for love.
Ruy Blas: No!
Don Sallust (whispering to Ruy Blas): I am working in your interests.
(Aloud toThe Queen) Now listen, madam. I have found you here,
Alone with Cesar, in his room, at night.
This conduct—in a queen—would lead the Pope—
Were the fact published—to annul your marriage.
Why not avoid the scandal?
[Taking a parchment from his pocket, he presents it to The Queen.
Sign this deed
Admitting everything, and we can keep
All the proceedings secret. I have put
Plenty of money in the coach that waits
Outside the door. Ride off in it and take
Cesar with you, to France or Portugal.
No one will stop you. But if you refuse
Everything shall be published. Here's a pen.
[He leads the terrified Queen to a writing-table, and puts a pen in her hand. Ruy Blas stands in a corner, motionless and bewildered.
The Queen: Oh, I am lost! Lost, and yet innocent!
Don Sallust: You lose a crown; but think of what you gain—
A life of love and peace and happiness.
Don Cesar loves you, and is worthy of you.
A man of noble race; almost a prince.
[The Queen is about to sign, but Ruy Blas snatches the pen from her hand, and tears up the parchment.
Ruy Blas: You must not sign it! This man lies to you.
I am Ruy Blas, a common serving-man.
[Turning fiercely on Don Sallust.
No more of it, I say! I'll have no more!
You mean, contemptible scoundrel! Tell the truth!
Don Sallust: This creature is, in fact, my serving-man,
Only he has blabbed too soon.
The Queen: Great Heavens!
Don Sallust: No matter. My revenge is good enough.
What do you think of it? Madrid will laugh!
You exiled me, my lady; brought me down
Into the dust. I'll drag you from the throne
And hold you up—the laughing-stock of Spain!
[While he is speaking Ruy Blas silently bolts the door; then, creeping behind Don Sallust, he snatches his sword from the scabbard.
Ruy Blas: Insult the queen again, you wretch, and I
Will kill you where you stand. You foul, black snake,
Crawl in the further room and say your prayers.
[Don Sallust rushes towards the outer door; Ruy Blas pushes him back at the sword's point.
The Queen: You are not going to slay him?
Ruy Blas: This affair
Must be now settled once for all. Go in!
[This to Don Sallust, whom he has now almost driven into the further room.
Don Sallust: Give me a sword, and let us fight it out.
Ruy Blas: Surely a nobleman would never stoop
To fight a duel with his serving-man?
No! I am going to kill you like a dog!
The Queen: Spare him!
Don Sallust: Help! Murder! Help!
Ruy Blas: Have you done?
[Don Sallust leaps at Ruy Blas, and the two men reel into the further room, and the door closes behind them. The Queen covers her face.
The Queen: Oh, God!
[There is a silence. Ruy Blas returns without the sword.
Ruy Blas (falling on his knees): Pardon me, madam, pardon me!
I am less guilty than I seem. At heart,
I am an honest man. My love for you
Led me into the trap that villain laid.
Will you not pardon me?
The Queen: No!
Ruy Blas: Never?
The Queen: No!
[Staggering to the table, he seizes the glass and drains it.
Ruy Blas: Well, that is over, then.
The Queen (running up to him): What have you done?
Ruy Blas: Nothing. But, oh, to think you loved me once!
The Queen: What was there in that glass? I love you still!
What was it? Poison? Tell me.
Ruy Blas (as she clasps him): Yes, my queen.
The Queen: Then I have killed you! But I love you now!
More than before. Had I but pardoned you—
Ruy Blas: I should have drunk the poison all the same.
I could not bear to live. Good-bye!
[He falls down, and The Queen holds him up in her arms.
Fly! Fly!
No one will know. That door.
>[He tries to point to it, but sinks back in the agony of death.
The Queen (throwing herself on him): Ruy Blas!
Ruy Blas (reviving at the sound of his name):
Thanks! Thanks! [He dies.
FOOTNOTES:
[K] In appearance, "Ruy Blas" is a pendant to "Hernani." In the earlier play, Victor Hugo gives a striking picture of the Spanish nobility in the days of its power and splendour. In the later drama, which he composed in 1838, he depicts in lurid light the corruption into which that nobility afterwards fell. But, as a matter of fact, "Ruy Blas" is a violent party pamphlet with a direct bearing on the French politics of the thirties. It is the decadent French nobility—vanquished in the revolution of 1830—that Hugo really attacks; and Ruy Blas himself is a representative Frenchman of the era of romanticism. Stendhal (Vol. VIII) was the first writer to study this new type of character—the young man of the lower middle classes, full of grandiose dreams and wild ambitions and strange weaknesses, who thought to arrive by intrigue at the high position which the great soldiers of the preceding generation had won on the battlefield. Balzac (Vol. I) elaborated the character in his "Human Comedy"; and Hugo, by ennobling and enlarging it, created the sombre, magnificent figure of Ruy Blas.
[The King Amuses Himself][L]
Persons in the Drama
| François I., King of France |
| Triboulet, his jester |
| Blanche, Triboulet's daughter |
| Saltabadil, an assassin |
| Maguelonne, his sister |
| Dame Berarde |
| A woman; a man; a crowd of people |