the delicately modelled prose of his _Griechischer Frühling_, "the Green
Gleam, which mariners assert to have witnessed at times, appears at the
last moment before the sun dips below the horizon.... The ancients must
have known the Green Gleam.... I do not know whether that be true, but I
feel a longing within me to behold it. I can imagine some Pure Fool,
whose life consisted but in seeking it over lands and seas, in order to
perish at last in the radiance of that strange and splendid light. Are we
not all, perhaps, upon a similar quest? Are we not beings who have
exhausted the realm of the senses and are athirst for other delights for
both our senses and our souls?" The author of _Before Dawn_ has gone a
long journey in the land of the spirit to the writing of these words, and
of still others in _Gabriel Schilling's Flight_: "Behind this visible
world another is hidden, so near at times that one might knock at its
gate...." But it is the journey which man himself has gone upon during
the intervening years.
Thus Hauptmann's work has not only created a new technique of the drama;
it has not only added unforgettable figures to the world of the
imagination: it has also mirrored and interpreted the intellectual
history of its time. His art sums up an epoch--an epoch full of knowledge
and the restraints of knowledge, still prone, so often, before the
mechanical in life and thought; but throughout all its immedicable
scepticism full of strange yearnings and visited by flickering dreams;
and even in its darkest years and days still stretching out hands in love
of a farther shore. Once more the great artist, his vision fixed
primarily upon his art, has most powerfully interpreted man to his own
mind.
LUDWIG LEWISOHN.
BEFORE DAWN
_The first performance of this drama took place on October 20 in the
Lessing Theatre under the management of the Free Stage society. I
take the occasion of the appearance of a new edition to express my
hearty thanks to the directors of that society and, more especially,
to Messrs. Otto Brahm and Paul Schlenther. May the future prove that,
by defying petty considerations and by helping to give life to a work
that had its origin in pure motives, they have deserved well of
German art.
GERHART HAUPTMANN
Charlottenburg, October 20, 1889_
_ACTING CHARACTERS_
KRAUSE, _Farmer._
MRS. KRAUSE, _his second wife._
HELEN, MARTHA, _KRAUSE'S daughters by his first marriage._
HOFFMANN, _Engineer, MARTHA'S husband._
WILHELM KAHL, _MRS. KRAUSE'S nephew._
MRS. SPILLER, _MRS. KRAUSE'S companion._
ALFRED LOTH.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG.
BEIPST, _Workingman on KRAUSE'S farm._
GUSTE, LIESE, MARIE _Maid-servants on KRAUSE'S farm._
BAER, _called "Hopping Baer."_
EDWARD, _HOFFMANN'S servant._
MIELE, _MRS. KRAUSE'S housemaid._
THE COACHMAN'S WIFE.
GOLISCH, _a Cowherd._
A PACKET POST CARRIER.
THE FIRST ACT
_The room is low: the floor is covered with excellent rugs. Modern
luxury seems grafted upon the bareness of the peasant. On the wall,
behind the dining-table, hangs a picture which represents a waggon
with four horses driven by a carter in a blue blouse._
_MIELE, a vigorous peasant girl with a red, rather slow-witted face,
opens the middle door and permits ALFRED LOTH to enter. LOTH is of
middle height, broad-shouldered, thick-set, decided but somewhat
awkward in his movements. His hair is blond, his eyes blue, his small
moustache thin and very light; his whole face is bony and has an
equably serious expression. His clothes are neat but nothing less
than fashionable: light summer overcoat, a wallet hanging from the
shoulder; cane._
MIELE
Come in, please. I'll call Mr. Hoffmann right off. Won't you take a seat?
[_The glass-door that leads to the conservatory is violently thrust
open, and a peasant woman, her face bluish red with rage, bursts in.
She is not much better dressed than a washerwoman: naked, red arms,
blue cotton-skirt and bodice, red dotted kerchief. She is in the
early forties; her face is hard, sensual, malignant. The whole figure
is, otherwise, well preserved._
MRS. KRAUSE
[_Screams._] The hussies!... That's right!... The vicious critters!...
Out with you! We don't give nothin'!... [_Half to MIELE, half to LOTH._]
He can work, he's got arms. Get out! You don't get nothin' here!
LOTH
But Mrs.... Surely you will ... my name is Loth ... I am ... I'd like to
... I haven't the slightest in....
MIELE
He wants to speak to Mr. Hoffmann.
MRS. KRAUSE
Oho! beggin' from my son-in-law. We know that kind o' thing! He ain't got
nothin'; everything he's got he gets from us. Nothin' is his'n.
[_The door to the right is opened and HOFFMANN thrusts his head in._
HOFFMANN
Mother, I must really beg of you! [_He enters and turns to LOTH._] What
can I ... Alfred! Old man! Well, I'll be blessed. You? That certainly is
... well, that certainly is a great notion!
[_HOFFMANN is thirty-three years old, slender, tall, thin. In his
dress he affects the latest fashion, his hair is carefully tended; he
wears costly rings, diamond-studs in his shirt-front and charms on
his watch chain. His hair and moustache are black; the latter is
luxurious and is most scrupulously cared for. His face is pointed,
bird-like, the expression blurred, the eyes dark, lively, at times
restless._
LOTH
It's by the merest accident, you know ...
HOFFMANN
[_Excited._] Nothing pleasanter could have ... Do take your things off,
first of all! [_He tries to help him off with his wallet._]--Nothing
pleasanter or more unexpected could possibly--[_he has relieved LOTH of
his hat and cane and places both on a chair near the door_]--could
possibly have happened to me just now--[_coming back_]--no, decidedly,
nothing.
LOTH
[_Taking off his wallet himself._] It's by the merest chance that I've
come upon you.
[_He places his wallet on the table in the foreground._
HOFFMANN
Sit down. You must be tired. Do sit down--please! D'you remember when you
used to come to see me you had a way of throwing yourself full-length on
the sofa so that the springs groaned. Sometimes they broke, too. Very
well, then, old fellow. Do as you used to do.
[_MRS. KRAUSE'S face has taken on an expression of great
astonishment. She has withdrawn. LOTH sits down on one of the chairs
that stand around the table in the foreground._
HOFFMANN
Won't you drink something? Whatever you say? Beer? Wine? Brandy? Coffee?
Tea? Everything's in the house.
[_HELEN comes reading from the conservatory. Her tall form, somewhat
too plump, the arrangement of her blond, unusually luxuriant hair,
the expression of her face, her modern gown, her gestures--in brief,
her whole appearance cannot quite hide the peasant's daughter._
HELEN
Brother, you might.... [_She discovers LOTH and withdraws quickly._] Oh,
I beg pardon.
[_Exit._
HOFFMANN
Stay here, do!
LOTH
Your wife?
HOFFMANN
No; her sister. Didn't you hear how she addressed me?
LOTH
No.
HOFFMANN
Good-looking, eh? But now, come on. Make up your mind. Coffee? Tea? Grog?
LOTH
No, nothing, thank you.
HOFFMANN
[_Offers him cigars._] Here's something for you then. No!... Not even
that?
LOTH
No, thank you.
HOFFMANN
Enviable frugality! [_He lights a cigar for himself and speaks the
while._] The ashes ... I meant to say, tobacco ... h-m ... smoke of
course ... doesn't bother you, does it?
LOTH
No.
HOFFMANN
Ah, if I didn't get that much ... Good Lord, life anyhow!--But now, do me
a favour; tell me something. Ten years--you've hardly changed much,
though--ten years, a nasty slice of time. How's Schn ... Schnurz? That's
what we called him, eh? And Fips, and the whole jolly bunch of those
days? Haven't you been able to keep your eye on any of them?
LOTH
Look here, is it possible you don't know?
HOFFMANN
What?
LOTH
That he shot himself.
HOFFMANN
Who? Who's done that sort o' thing again?
LOTH
Fips. Friedrich Hildebrandt.
HOFFMANN
Oh come, that's impossible.
LOTH
It's a fact. Shot himself in the Grunewald, on a very beautiful spot on
the shore of the Havelsee. I was there. You have a view toward Spandau.
HOFFMANN
Hm. Wouldn't have believed it of him. He wasn't much of a hero in other
ways.
LOTH
That's the very reason why he shot himself.--He was conscientious, very
conscientious.
HOFFMANN
Conscientious? I don't see.
LOTH
That was the very reason ... otherwise he would probably not have done
it.
HOFFMANN
I'm still in the dark.
LOTH
Well, you know what the colour of his political views was?
HOFFMANN
Oh, yes--green.
LOTH
Put it so, if you want to. You'll have to admit, at all events, that he
was a very gifted fellow. And yet for five years he had to work as a
stucco-worker, and for another five years he had to starve along, so to
speak, on his own hook, and in addition he modelled his little statues.
HOFFMANN
And they were revolting. I want to be cheered by art ... No, that kind of
art wasn't a bit to my taste.
LOTH
Not exactly to mine either. Certain ideas had bitten themselves into his
mind. However, last spring there was a competition for a monument. Some
two-penny princeling was to be immortalised, I believe. Fips competed
and--won. Shortly afterward, he killed himself.
HOFFMANN
I don't see that that throws any ray of light on his so-called
conscientiousness. I call that sort of thing silly and highfalutin.
LOTH
That is the common view.
HOFFMANN
I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help sharing it.
LOTH
Well, it can make no difference to him now, what....
HOFFMANN
Oh, anyhow, let's drop the subject. At bottom I'm just as sorry for him
as you can be. But now that he is dead, the good fellow, tell me
something of yourself. What have you been doing? How has the world used
you?
LOTH
It has used me as it was my business to expect. Didn't you hear anything
about me at all? From the papers, I mean?
HOFFMANN
[_Somewhat embarrassed._] Not that I know of.
LOTH
Nothing of that business at Leipzig?
HOFFMANN
Ah, yes, that! Yes, yes ... I believe so ... but nothing definite.
LOTH
Well, then, the matter was as follows--
HOFFMANN
[_Laying his hand on LOTH'S arm._] Before you begin, won't you take
anything at all?
LOTH
Perhaps later.
HOFFMANN
Not even a little glass of brandy?
LOTH
No; that least of all.
HOFFMANN
Well, then I'll take a little ... There's nothing better for the stomach.
[_He gets a bottle and two little glasses from the sideboard and places
them on the table before LOTH._] Grand champagne, finest brand. I can
recommend it. Won't you really?
LOTH
No, thank you.
HOFFMANN
[_Tilting the contents of the glass into his mouth._] Ah-h--well, now I'm
all ears.
LOTH
To put it briefly, I got into a nasty mess.
HOFFMANN
The sentence was two years, wasn't it?
LOTH
Quite right. You seem to be informed after all. Yes, I was sentenced to
two years' imprisonment, and afterwards they expelled me from the
university too. And at that time I was just--twenty-one. However, during
those two years I wrote my first book on economics. In spite of that I
couldn't truthfully say that it was very good fun to be behind the bars.
HOFFMANN
Lord, what idiots we were! It's queer. And we had really taken the thing
into our heads in good earnest. I can't help thinking, old man, that it
was sheer puerility. The idea! A dozen green kids like ourselves to go to
America and found ... _we_ found ... a model state. Delicious notion!
LOTH
Puerility? Ah well, in some ways no doubt it was. We certainly
underestimated the difficulty of such an undertaking.
HOFFMANN
And that you really did go to America, in all seriousness, and with empty
hands ... Why, think, man, what it means to acquire land and foundation
for a model state with empty hands. That was almost cr ... At all events
it was unique in its naïveté.
LOTH
And yet I'm particularly satisfied with the result of my American trip.
HOFFMANN
[_Laughing with a touch of boisterousness._] Cold water treatment. That
was an excellent result, if that's what you mean....
LOTH
It may well be that I cooled down quite a little. But that process is
hardly peculiar to myself. It is one which every human being undergoes.
But it's a far cry from that to failing to realise the value of those ...
well, let's call them, our hotheaded days. And it wasn't so frightfully
simple-minded, as you represent it.
HOFFMANN
Well, I don't know about that.
LOTH
All you have to do is to think of the average silliness that surrounded
us in those days: the fraternity goings on at the universities, the
swilling, the duelling. And what was all the noise about? It was about
Hecuba, as Fips used to say. Well, we at least, didn't make a fuss about
Hecuba; we had our attention, fixed on the highest aims of humanity. And,
in addition to that, those silly times cleared me thoroughly of all
prejudices. I took my leave of sham religion and sham morality and a good
deal else....
HOFFMANN
I'm perfectly prepared to admit that much. If, when all's said and done,
I am an open-minded, enlightened man to-day, I owe it, as I wouldn't
dream of denying, to the days of our intercourse! I am the last man to
deny that. In fact I'm not in _any_ respect a monster. Only you mustn't
try to run your head through a stone wall.--You mustn't try to force out
the evils under which, more's the pity, the present generation suffers,
only to replace them by worse ones. What you've got to do is--to let
things take their natural course. What is to be, will be! You've got to
proceed practically, practically! And you will recall that I emphasised
that just as much in those days as now. And that principle has paid. And
that's just it. All of you, yourself included, proceed in a most
unpractical way.
LOTH
I wish you'd explain just how you mean that.
HOFFMANN
It's as simple as ... You don't make use of your capabilities. Take
yourself, for instance: a fellow with your knowledge, energy and what
not! What road would have been closed to you? Instead of going ahead,
what is it you do? You _compromise_ yourself, at the very start, to
_such_ a degree, that ... well, honestly, old man, didn't you regret it
once in a while?
LOTH
I can't very well regret the fact that I was condemned innocently.
HOFFMANN
As to that, of course, I can't judge.
LOTH
You will be able to do so at once when I tell you that the indictment
declared that I had called our club, "Vancouver Island," into being
purely for purposes of party agitation. In addition I was said to have
collected funds for party purposes. Now you know very well that we were
thoroughly in earnest in regard to our ambitions of founding a colony.
And, as far as collecting money goes--you have said yourself that we were
all empty-handed together. The indictment was a misrepresentation from
beginning to end, and, as a former member, you ought to....
HOFFMANN
Hold on, now. I wasn't really a member. As to the rest, of course, I
believe you. Judges are, after all, only human. You must consider that.
In any event, to proceed quite practically, you should have avoided the
very _appearance_ of that sort of thing. Take it all in all: I have
wondered at you often enough since then--editor of the _Workingmen's
Tribune_, the obscurest of hole and corner sheets--parliamentary
candidate of the dear mob! And what did you get out of it all? Don't
misunderstand me! I am the last man to be lacking in sympathy with the
common people. But _if_ something is to be effected, it must be effected
from above. In fact that's the only way in which anything can be done.
The people never know what they really need. It's this trying to lift
things from beneath that I call--running your head through a stone wall.
LOTH
I'm afraid I don't get a very clear notion of your drift.
HOFFMANN
What I mean? Well now, look at me! My hands are free: I am in a position
to do something for an ideal end.--I think I can say that the practical
part of my programme has been pretty well carried out. And all you
fellows, always with empty hands--what can you do?
LOTH
True. From what one hears you are in a fair way to become a Rothschild.
HOFFMANN
[_Flattered._] You do me too much honour--at least, for the present. Who
said that, anyhow? A man sticks to a good thing, and that, naturally,
brings its reward. But who was it said that?
LOTH
It was over there in Jauer. Two gentlemen were conversing at the next
table.
HOFFMANN
Aha! H-m. I have enemies. And what did they have to say?
LOTH
Nothing of importance. But I heard from them that you had retired for the
present to the estate of your parents-in-law.
HOFFMANN
People have a way of finding things out; haven't they? My dear friend,
you'd never believe how a man in my position is spied on at every step.
That's another one of the evils of wealth ... But it is this way, you
see: I'm expecting the confinement of my wife in the quiet and the
healthy air here.
LOTH
What do you do for a physician? Surely in such cases a good physician is
of the highest importance. And here, in this village....
HOFFMANN
Ah, but that's just it! The physician here is an unusually capable one.
And, do you know, I've found this out: in a doctor, conscientiousness
counts for more than genius.
LOTH
Perhaps it is an essential concomitant of a physician's genius.
HOFFMANN
Maybe so. Anyhow, our doctor _has_ a conscience. He's a bit of an
idealist--more or less our kind. His success among the miners and the
peasants is simply phenomenal! Sometimes, I must say, he isn't an easy
man to bear, he's got a mixture of hardness and sentimentality. But, as I
said before, I know how to value conscientiousness; no doubt about that.
But before I forget ... I do attach some importance to it ... a man ought
to know what he has to look out for ... Listen!... Tell me ... I see it
in your face. Those gentlemen at the next table had nothing good to say
of me? Tell me, please, what they did say.
LOTH
I really ought not to do that, for I was going to beg one hundred crowns
of you, literally beg, for there is hardly any chance of my ever being
able to return them.
HOFFMANN
[_Draws a cheque-book from his inner pocket, makes out a cheque and hands
it to LOTH._] Any branch of the Imperial Bank will cash it ... It's
simply a pleasure....
LOTH
Your promptness surpasses all expectation. Well, I accept it with,
gratitude, and you know--it could be worse spent.
HOFFMANN
[_Somewhat rhetorically._] A labourer is worthy of his hire. But now,
Loth, have the goodness to tell me what the gentlemen in question....
LOTH
I dare say they talked nonsense.
HOFFMANN
Tell me in spite of that, please. I'm simply interested, quite simply
interested--that's all.
LOTH
They discussed the fact that you had violently forced another man out of
his position here--a contractor named Mueller.
HOFFMANN
_Of_ course! The same old story.
LOTH
The man, they said, was betrothed to your present wife.
HOFFMANN
So he was. And what else?
LOTH
I tell you these things just as I heard them, for I assume that it is of
some importance to you to be acquainted with the exact nature of the
slander.
HOFFMANN
Quite right. And so?
LOTH
So far as I could make out this Mueller was said to have had the contract
for the construction of a stretch of mountain railroad here.
HOFFMANN
Yes, with a wretched capital of ten thousand crowns. When he came to see
that the money wouldn't go far enough, he was in haste to make a catch of
one of the Witzdorf farmers' daughters; the honour was to have fallen to
my wife.
LOTH
They said that he had his arrangement with the daughter, and you had made
yours with the father.--Next he shot himself, didn't he?--And you
finished the construction of his section of the road and made a great
deal of money out of it?
HOFFMANN
There's an element of truth in all that. Of course, I could give you a
very different notion of how those things hung together. Perhaps they
knew a few more of these edifying anecdotes.
LOTH
There was one thing, I am bound to tell you, that seemed to excite them
particularly: they computed what an enormous business you were doing in
coal now, and they called you--well, it wasn't exactly flattering. In
short they asserted that you had persuaded the stupid farmers of the
neighbourhood, over some champagne, to sign a contract by which the
exploitation of all the coal mined on their property was turned over to
you at a ridiculously small rental.
HOFFMANN
[_Touched on the raw, gets up._] I'll tell you something, Loth ... Pshaw,
why concern oneself with it at all. I vote that we think of supper. I'm
savagely hungry--yes, quite savagely.
[_He presses the button of an electric connection, the wire of which
hangs down over the sofa in the form of a green cord. The ringing of
an electric bell is heard._
LOTH
Well, if you want to keep me here, then have the kindness ... I'd like to
brush up a bit first.
HOFFMANN
In a moment--everything that's necessary ... [_EDWARD, a servant in
livery, enters._] Edward, take this gentleman to the guest chamber.
EDWARD
Very, well, sir.
HOFFMANN
[_Pressing LOTH'S hand._] I wonder if you'd mind coming down to supper in
about fifteen minutes--at most.
LOTH
That's ample time. See you later.
HOFFMANN
Yes, see you later.
[_EDWARD opens the door and lets LOTH precede him. Both go out.
HOFFMANN scratches the back of his head, looks thoughtfully at the
floor and then approaches the door at the right. He has just touched
the knob when HELEN, who has entered hastily by the glass door, calls
to him._
HELEN
Brother! Who was that?
HOFFMANN
That was one of my college chums, in fact, the oldest of them, Alfred
Loth.
HELEN
[_Quickly._] Has he gone again?
HOFFMANN
No; he's going to eat supper with us. Possibly ... yes, possibly he may
spend the night here.
HELEN
Heavens! Then I shan't come to supper.
HOFFMANN
But Helen!
HELEN
What is the use of my meeting cultivated people! I might just as well get
as boorish as all the rest here!
HOFFMANN
Oh, these eternal fancies! In fact you will do me a real favour if you
will order the arrangements for supper. Be so kind. I'd like to have
things a bit festive, because I believe that he has something up his
sleeve.
HELEN
What do you mean by that: has something up his sleeve?
HOFFMANN
Mole's work ... digging, digging.--You can't possibly understand that.
Anyhow, I may be mistaken, for I've avoided touching on that subject so
far. At all events, have everything as inviting as possible. That's the
easiest way, after all, of accomplishing something with people ...
Champagne, of course. Have the lobsters come from Hamburg?
HELEN
I believe they came this morning.
HOFFMANN
Very well. Then--lobsters! [_A violent knocking is heard._] Come in!
PARCEL POST CARRIER
[_Enters with a box under his arm. His voice has a sing-song
inflection._] A box.
HELEN
Where from?
PARCEL POST CARRIER
Ber-lin.
HOFFMANN
Quite right. No doubt the baby's outfit from Hertzog. [_He looks at the
package and takes the bill._] Yes, these are the things from Hertzog.
HELEN
This whole box full. Oh, that's overdoing!
_HOFFMANN pays the carrier._
PARCEL POST CARRIER
[_Still in his sing-song._] I wish you a good evening.
[_Exit._
HOFFMANN
Why is that overdoing?
HELEN
Why, because there's enough here to fit out at least three babies.
HOFFMANN
Did you take a walk with my wife?
HELEN
What am I to do if she's so easily tired?
HOFFMANN
Nonsense! Easily tired! She makes me utterly wretched! An hour and a half
... I wish, for goodness' sake, she would do as the doctor orders. What
is the use of having a doctor, if....
HELEN
Then put your foot down and get rid of that Spiller woman! What am I to
do against an old creature like that who always confirms her in her own
notions!
HOFFMANN
But what can I do--a man--a mere man? And, furthermore, you know my
mother-in-law! Don't you?
HELEN
[_Bitterly._] I do.
HOFFMANN
Where is she now?
HELEN
Spiller has been getting her up in grand style ever since Mr. Loth came.
She will probably go through one of her performances at supper.
HOFFMANN
[_Once more absorbed in his own thoughts and pacing the room,
violently._] This is the last time, I give you my word, that I'm going to
await such things in this house--the last time, so help me!
HELEN
Yes, you're lucky. You can go where you please.
HOFFMANN
In my house the wretched relapse into that frightful vice would most
certainly not have occurred.
HELEN
Don't make me responsible for it. She did not get the brandy from me! Get
rid of the Spiller woman, I tell you. Oh, if only I were a man!
HOFFMANN
[_Sighing._] Oh, if only it were over and done with!--[_Speaking from the
door to the right._] Anyhow, sister, do me the favour and have the
supper-table really appetising. I'll just attend to a little matter
meanwhile.
HELEN
[_Rings the electric bell. MIELE enters._] Miele, set the table, and tell
Edward to put champagne on ice and open four dozen oysters.
MIELE
[_With sullen impudence._] You c'n tell him yer-self. He don't take
orders from me. He's always sayin' he was hired by Mr. Hoffmann.
HELEN
Then, at least, send him in to me.
[_MIELE goes. HELEN steps in front of the mirror and adjusts various
details in her toilet. In the meantime EDWARD enters._
HELEN
[_Still before the mirror._] Edward, put champagne on ice and open
oysters. Mr. Hoffmann wishes it.
EDWARD
Very well, Miss.
[_As EDWARD leaves, a knocking is heard at the middle door._
HELEN
[_Startled._] Dear me! [_Timidly._] Come in! [_Louder and more firmly._]
Come in!
LOTH