TEMPTER. Then I shot her; not out of revenge, but in order to free myself from the unhealthy thoughts her faithlessness had forced on me; for when I tried to tear her picture out of my heart, images of her lovers always rose and crept into my blood, so that at last I seemed to be living in unlawful relationship with three men—with a woman as the link between us!
MAGISTRATE. Well, that was jealousy!
ACCUSED MAN. Yes, that was jealousy.
TEMPTER. Yes, jealousy, that feeling for cleanliness, that seeks to preserve thoughts from pollution by strangers. If I'd been content to do nothing, if I'd not been jealous, I'd have got into vicious company, and I didn't want to do that. That's why she had to die so that my thoughts might be cleansed of deadly sin, which alone is to be condemned. I've finished.
PEOPLE. The dead woman's guilty! Her blood's on her own head.
MAGISTRATE. She's guilty, for she was the cause of the crime.
(The FATHER of the dead woman steps forward.)
FATHER. Your Worship, judge of my dead child; and you, countrymen, let me speak!
MAGISTRATE. The dead girl's father may speak.
FATHER. You're accusing a dead girl; and I shall answer. Maria, my child, has undoubtedly been guilty of a crime and is to blame for the misdeeds of this man. There's no doubt of it!