happens. We see Francesca in a rare room, with the Adriatic Sea
glimpsed through the open windows. This scene is beautifully presented.
Upon a unique lectern is placed a tome, The History of Launcelot of
the Lake, the very book mentioned by Dante as the fatal one. There
are girlish jesting and chattering. Francesca reads aloud. It may be
noticed that at the beginning of Act I the old romance of Tristan and
Isolde is alluded to, thus suggesting the ultimate ending of Francesca
and Paolo.
Throughout there are these delicate loops of leading motives binding
firmly the somewhat loosely built dramatic tale. Francesca relates her
dream to her slave, Smaragdi. It is of a pursuit through dim woods of a
naked woman by a savage knight and his mastiffs. The vision always ends
in the same manner. The knight cuts out her heart and throws it to the
hungry dogs; they devour it.
The entrance of a voluble merchant and later an astrologer and the
jester relaxes the tense melancholy of the love-lorn lady. A scene of
bright foolery follows. It is touched by no little fancy. And then the
slave whispers that Paolo is without. Sending away her people, she
receives him. There is the inevitable duo of amorous despair and the
fateful reading. Here D'Annunzio handles a foreseen situation with
poetic skill. He manages to create an atmosphere of suspense from the
beginning. The final cry of Francesca, "No, Paolo!" is worth a page of
overwrought adjectives and writhing embraces.