I could on mine own heart fix suicide’s fangs,
So they defaced that form it dares to cherish!
Upon these sentiments he acts, and his ‘wickedness’ is not without consistency, only it is spread out so as to affect the symmetry of the composition. The same is still more true of Berthold, who, in the beginning, appears to be not only sinning, but sinned against. It is not quite clear how he has, previous to the events of the play, deserved the detestation of all his neighbours; to a great extent it seems to be inspired by his bodily deformity. His love to Urilda is tender enough; leaning over her, when she is lying senseless, he speaks this beautiful monologue:
Oh! it renews the heart to gaze oh thee!
Thou thing of power, that hast not life, but givest it:—
Thou beautous even in death—making death beautous!
Those softly closed lids, in whose rich veil
The unseen light dwells lovely,—the wan cheek,
Amid whose pallid bower death weds with beauty;
The faintly-falling arms, the woe-bent head—