Facing Death, written by August Strindberg, is a one-act
play which highlights the role of money in people’s lives. In this play,
money has determined the relationship between the characters. Monsieur Duran,
the central character of the play, kills himself so that his daughters will
get 5000 francs as compensation from the insurance company. This one-act play
is taken from the Class 12 English textbook. The following summary, analysis,
and exercise will help the readers understand the text. You can also find the
original drama, "Facing Death" by August Strindberg, in this
article.
|
A Short Summary of Facing Death
The drama Facing Death, written by August Strindberg, is
about a sacrifice made by a father for his daughters. The father (Durand)
sacrifices his own life so that his daughters will have financial security.
He sacrifices his life so that his daughters will receive the money from the
insurance policy.
In the drama, Durand’s family had gone through a long
financial crisis, and he didn’t have any way out besides sacrificing himself.
Throughout the drama, Durand has been mistreated by his
daughters. However, being a responsible and conscious father, he never left
his daughters in misery. He tries every effort to maintain the financial
issues of his family and gives security to his daughters the best he
can. When his wife died, after
finishing almost all the property, he turned his house into a lodge and
worked there to generate money.
However, when he realized that none of his efforts worked
to sustain his family financially, he planned to kill himself so that his
daughters would get 500 francs as compensation from the insurance company of
his insurance policy. The sacrifice he has made for his daughters is so
heroic that very few people can dare to take such a step.
|
Detailed Summary of Facing Death
The drama "Facing Death" opens in a dining room.
The main character of the drama, Monsieur Durand, is standing in the doorway,
and he is looking outside the door.
In the meantime, his daughter Adèle comes in from the
kitchen with a tray of coffee things. She is wearing an apron and turned-up
sleeves. As she enters, she asks her father, Durand, if he has gone for the
coffee-bread. Durand replies that he hasn’t gone as he has a pain in his
chest. But he says that he has sent Pierre (a helper).
She doesn’t like her father sending Pierre for work because
they need to pay for him. Since no tourists have visited their house for over
two months, they are suffering from the financial crisis.
Adèle accuses her father of not doing anything to support
the family financially. She says that
she has been working hard for a long time for the family’s survival. Durand
agrees with her and says that he and his daughter Adèle have made many
efforts to support the family financially since the mother (Durand’s wife)
died.
Adèle has been working in the kitchen for the customers
continuously, and he has to take care of the service, the fires, sweep and
clean, and deliveries of the food. However, the other two sisters, Annette
and Thérèse, are not working to support the family.
Then, Adèle asks her father if he has paid the fire
insurance on their house. Durand replies that he has paid the insurance.
While they are talking, Pierre comes in with a basket.
Adèle looks in the basket for bread. Instead of bread, she finds some unpaid
bills. The baker returns to Pierre, saying that he wouldn't send any more
bread until he was paid. When Pierre went to the butcher’s and grocer’s to
ask for goods, they too did the same.
Adèle finds a package in the basket. Adèle opens and gets
some candles. The candles have been bought by Durand to honor his dead son
Rèné’s death anniversary.
Adèle, then, remembers her dead mother and says that she
was able to handle the financial difficulties but not her father. She informs
her father that Monsieur Antonio is coming to their house as a paying guest.
Her concern is that now they are unable to serve their guests, even with
coffee and bread.
Durand asks his daughter Adèle to leave him so that he can
talk with Antonio. Adèle, then, asks her father to arrange some money so that
Antonio wouldn’t know about their financial troubles. Durand says that he
can’t borrow any money because he has been borrowing for ten years. Instead,
he wants him to know the reality.
Antonio comes in and greets Durand. Antonio requests some
coffee. Durand informs him that they can no longer run their business due to
financial crisis. He also tells that they are bankrupt (penniless).
Understanding their financial troubles, Antonio wishes to
offer them some money. But Durand refuses to accept the help. Instead, he
decides to accept the consequences of the crisis. He wants his daughters
(Annette and Thérèse) to face the hardship so that they won’t spend their
lives just playing, singing, flirting, and walking. At this point, Durand
realizes that his two daughters (Annette and Thérèse) will do nothing until
they find bread in the house.
Antonio wants to stay in their house and wants to pay money
in advance so that they can manage their financial troubles. Durand refuses
him again. He tells Antonio that he doesn’t want to continue the business of
what they have been doing because it can’t sustain them. Rather, it has only
invited trouble. He claims that their house was empty for three months last
spring.Then, at last, an American family came and saved them. He says that
the one who visits their house tries to take advantage of their poverty by
flirting with his daughter. The American son was trying to kiss Thérèse. Now,
he is very cautious about his daughter’s security. After some time, Antonio
convinces Durand to receive ten francs. Then, Durand goes out to get the
bread.
Afterward, Thérèse (youngest daughter of Durand) comes in,
carrying a rat-trap. She is wearing a morning negligée (dress) and her hair
is down. She is presented carelessly. Thérèse gets excited to see Antonio.
Antonio praises her beauty. They talk for a while, and Thérèse asks for milk
and cheese for her cat and rats for her sister Adèle. Adèle tells Thérèse to get them herself.
Thérèse shows rude behavior, and Adèle advises her to behave properly. Adèle,
then, goes into the kitchen to get coffee.
In the room, Thérèse and Antonio start to chat about their
love affair. Annette (another daughter of Durand) comes into the room fully
dressed and making her hair look beautiful. Then, Antonio puts his arm around
her and kisses her. Monsieur Durand sees what Antonio does and gets furious.
Durand asks his daughter Thérèse about the matter of kissing, but she tries
to hide it. Thérèse accuses her father of being a fraud. Thérèse blames her
father for having told a lie about being Swiss.
Durand threatens Antonio and asks him to leave the house at
once. Durand presents violently against Antonio and tries to hit him with a
stick, but Thérèse and Annette protect him.
While leaving the home, Antonio inquires about the ten
francs that he has given to Durand. Durand, then, takes a gold piece from his
vest pocket and throws it toward Antonio. Thérèse and Annette follow Antonio
and ask him not to leave them.
Thérèse gets angry with her father for treating the guest
rudely. Durand again asks his daughter Thérèse about her relationship with
Antonio. Thérèse tries to hide the matter by changing the topic, and she lies
that he didn’t kiss her. So, Durand asks his daughter Annette to tell the
truth. Annette too hides it, saying that she didn’t see anything.
Meanwhile, Adèle comes in with a glass of milk, which she
puts on the table. Annette asks Durand to have the milk and inquires about
bread. But Thérèse rudely grabs the glass of milk from Durand and doesn’t let
Durand have the milk. Thérèse complains that her father is a spendthrift and
that his daughters are compelled to starve.
Adèle too blames Durand and treats him as a mad man. Adèle
tells us that there's another bill that came by way of the kitchen, and that
their father is too irresponsible to deal with financial suffering.
Durand takes the bill. He pours a glass of water and drinks
it. Durand sits down and lights his briar pipe (a tube with a small bowl at
one end; used for smoking tobacco), but again Annette misbehaves her father
(Durand) by taking the matches away and forbidding him from smoking. Annette
says that he can afford to smoke tobacco and waste money on matches. Adèle
and Thérèse both blame their father for their misfortune and financial
crisis.
Durand asks his daughters to be kind to him and let him eat
something, since he hasn’t eaten anything for a long time. His daughters
don’t care about his hunger too. Durand was so hungry that he had even eaten
the food that had been kept to trap rats. But the food wasn’t poisoned, and
he survived.
Now, Durand remembers his wife, who threatened him with
going to work as a prostitute when she had spent the housekeeping money on
lottery tickets. This is what the daughters never knew.
Now, Durand becomes emotional and talks to himself. Durand
says that a candle will burn the house and he will earn money. In the
meantime, a strom has begun to blow outside and grown cloudy. Durand rises
quickly and asks Adèle to put out the fire in the stove.
Durand again asks to put out the fire and says that if it
catches fire there, they'll get nothing from the insurance. Adèle doesn’t
understand anything about what her father is talking about. Durand asks his
daughters to obey what he says. Adèle goes into the kitchen, leaving the door
open. Durand tells Thérèse and Annette to go up and shut the windows and look
after the draughts. Durand tells his daughters that he is going away to get
money for them. He has life insurance for six hundred francs if he sells it
and five thousand francs if he dies.
Then, Durand proposes that Thérèse marry Antonio if she is
attached to him and if Antonio loves her. Thérèse understands that her father
wants to die. Thérèse asks her father not to do so. Thérèse even asks her
father to forgive her for her unkindness. Thérèse realizes that her father
loves them dearly and gives them the matches and milk that she has snatched
from him.
Adèle asks Durand if she has a life insurance policy.
Durand replies that he sold it long ago. But Durand still has fire insurance.
Durand plans to burn the house and receive the money from the insurance
policy so that his daughters can have financial security.
Now, Durand tells his daughters about himself. Durand says
that he was born in France. Just before he reached the age of conscription,
he fell in love with the one who later became his wife. To be able to marry,
they came to Switzerland and were naturalized (a foreigner who lives in one
country becomes a citizen of another country). When the last war broke out,
he was supposed to fight against his own country. Since he couldn’t ethically
fight against his motherland, he hid his identity as being French and told
everyone that he was Swiss. Adèle didn’t believe what her father said because
Adèle had had a strong trust in her mother.
Durand tells us what her mother was like. She completely
ruined their property because of her foolish and careless acts. She spent
money unnecessarily on the lottery, and they became financially weak. That is
why Durand has to give up his regular business and turn the house into a
lodge to run the family.
Durand says that his wife created a bad impression of him
in front of their daughters. He didn’t say anything bad about their mother
because he didn’t want to upset them at a young age.
His wife continuously blamed him, and Durand accepted
everything so that his family wouldn’t be ruined completely. However, the bad
impression created by his wife about him continued even after her death.
Durand asks Adèle to take care of her sisters, especially Thérèse, who is the
youngest.
Then, Durand drinks from a glass. Durand asks Thérèse to
find a place as a teacher for Annette, so that she can get out into the world
and into good company. Durand asks Thérèse to save family papers, which he
has kept in the top drawer of his chiffonier in the middle room. Then, he
gives the key and asks to save the fire insurance papers.
After that, smoke is seen coming its way through the
ceiling. Durand requests his daughter not to tell her sisters the secret.
Then, Durand sits down at the table. The smoke increases. Monsieur Durand
drops his head into his hands on the table.
Adèle finds everything burning. Durand lifts his head,
takes the water glass up, and puts it down with a meaningful gesture. Adèle
finds that he has taken poison. Durand confirms her doubts by nodding his
head. He asks about the insurance papers for the last time, and he dies.
|
About the writer Johan August
Strindberg
Johan August
Strindberg (1849–1912) was a Swedish writer, playwright, and painter. Ranked
among Sweden's most important authors,his works fall into two major literary
movements, Naturalism and Expressionism. His theater tries to create a
perfect illusion of reality through detailed sets, an unpoetic literary style
that reflects the way real people speak, and a style of acting that tries to
recreate reality. Miss Julie (1888), Facing Death (1892), A Dream Play
(1902), and The Ghost Sonata (1907) are some of his notable plays.
|
About the play
In Facing Death, Strindberg dramatizes a
heroic sacrifice made by a bankrupt man for the sake of his daughters.
|
Understanding the play Facing Death
Answer the following questions.
a. Have you ever observe your parents in a financial crisis?
If yes, what was it like?
b. Have you ever appreciated their selfless act for your
sake? If yes, how?
|
Characters in Facing Death
|
MONSIEUR DURAND, a pension proprietor, formerly
connected with the state railroad
|
ANNETTE, his daughter, twenty-four
|
THÉRÈSE, his daughter, twenty-four
|
ADÈLE, his daughter, twenty-seven
|
ANTONIO, a lieutenant in an Italian
cavalry regiment in French Switzerland in the eighties
|
PIERRE, an errand boy
|
Setting in Facing Death
[A dining-room with a long table. Through the open door is
seen, over the tops of churchyard cypress trees, Lake Leman, with the Savoy
Alps and the French bathing- resort Evian. To left is a door to the kitchen.
To right a door to inner rooms. Monsieur Durand stands in doorway looking
over the lake with a pair of field glasses.]
|
Facing Death by August Strindberg
[Original Text]
|
ADÈLE: [Comes in from kitchen wearing
apron and turned-up sleeves. She carries a tray with coffee things.] Haven't
you been for the coffee-bread, father?
|
DURAND: No, I sent Pierre. My chest has
been bad for the last few days, and it affects me to walk the steep hill.
|
ADÈLE: Pierre again, eh? That costs three
sous. Where are they to come from, with only one tourist in the house for
over two months?
|
DURAND: That's true enough, but it seems
to me Annette might get the bread.
|
ADÈLE: That would ruin the credit of the
house entirely, but you have never done anything else.
|
DURAND: Even you, Adèle?
|
ADÈLE: Even I am tired, though I have
held out longest!
|
DURAND: Yes, you have, and you were still
human when Thérèse and Annette cautioned me. You and I have pulled this house
through since mother died. You have had to sit in the kitchen like
Cinderella; I have had to take care of the service, the fires, sweep and
clean, and do the errands. You are tired; how should it be with me, then?
|
ADÈLE: But you mustn't be tired. You have
three daughters who are unprovided for and whose dowry you have wasted.
|
DURAND: [Listening without] Doesn't it
seem as if you heard the sound of clanging and rumbling down toward Cully? If
fire has broken out they are lost, because the wind is going to blow soon,
the lake tells me that.
|
ADÈLE: Have you paid the fire insurance
on our house?
|
DURAND: Yes, I have. Otherwise I would
never have got that last mortgage.
|
ADÈLE: How much is there left
unmortgaged?
|
DURAND: A fifth of the fire insurance
policy. But you know how property dropped in value when the railroad passed
our gates and went to the east instead.
|
ADÈLE: So much the better.
|
DURAND: [Sternly] Adèle! [Pause.] Will you
put out the fire in the stove?
|
ADÈLE: Impossible. I can't till the
coffee-bread comes.
|
DURAND: Well, here it is.
|
[Pierre comes in with basket. Adèle looks in the basket.]
|
ADÈLE: No bread! But a bill--two, three--
|
PIERRE: --Well, the baker said he wouldn't
send any more bread until he was paid. And then, when I was going by the
butcher's and the grocer's, they shoved these bills at me. [Goes out.]
|
ADÈLE: Oh, God in heaven, this is the end
for us! But what's this? [Opens a package.]
|
DURAND: Some candles that I bought for the
mass for my dear little Rèné. Today is the anniversary of his death.
|
ADÈLE: You can afford to buy such things!
|
DURAND: With my tips, yes. Don't you think
it is humiliating to stretch out my hand whenever a traveller leaves us?
Can't you grant me the only contentment I possess—let me enjoy my sorrow one
time each year? To be able to live in memory of the most beautiful thing life
ever gave me?
|
ADÈLE: If he had only lived until now,
you'd see how beautiful he'd be!
|
DURAND: It's very possible that there's
truth in your irony--as I remember him, however, he was not as you all are
now.
|
ADÈLE: Will you be good enough to receive
Monsieur Antonio yourself? He is coming now to have his coffee without bread!
Oh, if mother were only living! She always found a way when you stood
helpless.
|
DURAND: Your mother had her good
qualities.
|
ADÈLE: Although you saw only her faults.
|
DURAND: Monsieur Antonio is coming. If you
leave me now, I'll have a talk with him.
|
ADÈLE: You would do better to go out and
borrow some money, so that the scandal would be averted.
|
DURAND: I can't borrow a sou. After
borrowing for ten years! Let everything crash at once, everything,
everything, if it would only be the end!
|
ADÈLE: The end for you, yes. But you
never think of us!
|
DURAND: No, I have never thought of you,
never!
|
ADÈLE: Do you begrudge us our
bringing-up?
|
DURAND: I am only answering an unjust
reproach. Go now, and I'll meet the storm--as usual.
|
ADÈLE: As usual--h'm!
|
[Goes. Antonio comes in from back.]
|
ANTONIO: Good morning, Monsieur Durand.
|
DURAND: Monsieur Lieutenant has already
been out for a walk?
|
ANTONIO: Yes, I've been down toward Cully
and saw them put out a chimney fire. Now, some coffee will taste particularly
good.
|
DURAND: It's needless to say how it pains
me to have to tell you that on account of insufficient supplies our house can
no longer continue to do business.
|
ANTONIO: How is that?
|
DURAND: To speak plainly, we are
bankrupt.
|
ANTONIO: But, my good Monsieur Durand, is
there no way of helping you out of what I hope is just a temporary embarrassment?
|
DURAND: No, there is no possible way out.
The condition of the house has been so completely undermined for many years
that I had rather the crash would come than live in a state of anxiety day
and night, expecting what must come.
|
ANTONIO: Nevertheless I believe you are
looking at the dark side of things.
|
DURAND: I can't see what makes you doubt
my statement.
|
ANTONIO: Because I want to help you.
|
DURAND: I don't wish any help. Privation
must come and teach my children to lead a different life from this which is
all play. With the exception of Adèle, who really does take care of the
kitchen, what do the others do? Play, and sing, and promenade, and flirt; and
as long as there is a crust of bread in the house, they'll never do anything
useful.
|
ANTONIO: Granting that, but until the
finances are straightened out we must have bread in the house. Allow me to
stay a month longer and I will pay my bill in advance.
|
DURAND: No, thank you, we must stick to
this course even if it leads us into the lake! And I don't want to continue
in this business, which doesn't bring bread--nothing but humiliations. Just
think how it was last spring, when the house had been empty for three months.
Then at last an American family came and saved us. The morning after their
arrival I ran across the son catching hold of my daughter on the stairs. It
was Thérèse,--he was trying to kiss her. What would you have done in my case?
|
ANTONIO: [Confused] I don't know--
|
DURAND: I know what I, as a father,
should have done, but--father-like--I didn't do it. But I know what to do the
next time.
|
ANTONIO: On account of that very thing it
seems to me that you should think very carefully about what you do, and not
leave your daughters to chance.
|
DURAND: Monsieur Antonio, you are a young
man who, for some inexplicable reason, has won my regard. Whether you grant
it, or not, I am going to ask one thing of you. Don't form any opinions about
me as an individual, or about my conduct.
|
ANTONIO: Monsieur Durand, I promise it if
you will answer me one question; are you Swiss-born, or not?
|
DURAND: I am a Swiss citizen.
|
ANTONIO: Yes, I know that, but I ask if
you were born in Switzerland.
|
DURAND: [Uncertainly] Yes.
|
ANTONIO: I asked only--because it
interested me. Nevertheless--as I must believe you that your pension must be
closed, I want to pay what I owe. To be sure it's only ten francs, but I
can't go away and leave an unpaid bill.
|
DURAND: I can't be sure that this is
really a debt, as I don't keep the accounts, but if you have deceived me you
shall hear from me. Now I'll go and get the bread. Afterward we'll find out.
|
[Goes out. Antonio alone. Afterward Thérèse comes in,
carrying a rat-trap. She wears a morning negligée and her hair is down.]
|
THÉRÈSE: Oh, there you are, Antonio! I
thought I heard the old man.
|
ANTONIO: Yes, he went to get the
coffee-bread, he said.
|
THÉRÈSE: Hadn't he done that already? No,
do you know, we can't stand him any longer.
|
ANTONIO: How beautiful you are today,
Thérèse! But that rat-trap isn't becoming.
|
THÉRÈSE: And such a trap into the bargain!
I have set it for a whole month, but never, never get a live one, although
the bait is eaten every morning. Have you seen Mimi around?
|
ANTONIO: That damned cat? It's usually
around early and late, but today I've been spared it.
|
THÉRÈSE: You must speak beautifully about
the absent, and remember, he who loves me, loves my cat. [She puts rat-trap
on the table and picks up an empty saucer from under table.] Adèle, Adèle!
|
ADÈLE: [In the kitchen door] What does
Her Highness demand so loudly?
|
THÉRÈSE: Her Highness demands milk for her
cat and a piece of cheese for your rats.
|
ADÈLE: Go get them yourself.
|
THÉRÈSE: Is that the way to answer Her
Highness?
ADÈLE: The answer fits such talk. And
besides, you deserve it for showing yourself before a stranger with your hair
not combed.
THÉRÈSE: Aren't we all old friends here,
and--Antonio, go and speak nicely to Aunt Adele, and then you'll get some milk
for Mimi. [Antonio hesitates.] Well, aren't you going to mind?
ANTONIO: [Sharply] No.
THÉRÈSE: What kind of a way to speak is
that? Do you want a taste of my riding whip?
ANTONIO: Impudence!
THÉRÈSE: [Amazed] What's that? What's that?
Are you trying to remind me of my position, my debt, my weakness?
ANTONIO: No, I only want to remind you of my
position, my debt, my weakness.
ADÈLE: [Getting the saucer] Now listen,
good friends. What's all this foolishness for? Be friends--and then I'll give
you some very nice coffee. [Goes into the kitchen.]
THÉRÈSE: [Crying] You are tired of me,
Antonio, and you are thinking of giving me up.
ANTONIO: You mustn't cry, it will make your
eyes so ugly.
THÉRÈSE: Oh, if they are not as beautiful as
Annette's--
ANTONIO: --So, it's Annette now? But now look here; all fooling
aside, isn't it about time we had our coffee?
THÉRÈSE: You'd make a charming married
man--not able to wait a moment for your coffee.
ANTONIO: And what a lovable married lady you
would be, who growls at her husband because she has made a blunder.
[Annette comes in fully dressed and hair done up.]
ANNETTE: You seem to be quarreling this
morning. ANTONIO: See, there's Annette, and dressed already.
THÉRÈSE: Yes, Annette is so extraordinary in
every respect, and she also has the prerogative of being older than I am.
ANNETTE: If you don't hold your tongue--
ANTONIO: --Oh, now, now, be good, now,
Thérèse!
[He puts his arm around her and kisses her. Monsieur Durand appears in
the doorway as he does so.]
DURAND: [Astonished] What's this? THÉRÈSE:
[Freeing herself] What? DURAND: Did my eyes see right?
THÉRÈSE: What did you see?
DURAND: I saw that you allowed a strange
gentleman to kiss you.
THÉRÈSE: That's a lie!
DURAND: Have I lost my sight, or do you
dare lie to my face?
THÉRÈSE: Is it for you to talk about lying,
you who lie to us and the whole world by saying that you were born a Swiss
although you are a Frenchman?
DURAND: Who said that?
THÉRÈSE: Mother said so.
DURAND: [To Antonio] Monsieur Lieutenant,
as our account is settled, I'll ask you to leave this house immediately, or
else--
ANTONIO: Or else?
DURAND: Choose your weapon.
ANTONIO: I wonder what sort of defense you
would put up other than the hare's! DURAND: If I didn't prefer my stick, I
should take the gun that I used in the last war. THÉRÈSE: You have surely been
at war--you who deserted!
DURAND: Mother said that, too. I can't
fight the dead, but I can fight the living. [Lifts his walking-stick and goes
toward Antonio. Thérèse and Annette throw themselves between the men.] ANNETTE:
Think what you are doing! THÉRÈSE: This will end on the scaffold!
ANTONIO: [Backing away] Good-bye, Monsieur
Durand. Keep my contempt--and my ten francs.
DURAND: [Takes a gold piece from his vest
pocket and throws it toward Antonio] My curses follow your gold, scamp!
[Thérèse and Annette following Antonio.]
THÉRÈSE and ANNETTE: Don't go, don't leave us! Father will kill us!
DURAND: [Breaks his stick in two] He who
cannot kill must die.
ANTONIO: Good-bye, and I hope you'll miss
the last rat from your sinking ship. [He goes.]
THÉRÈSE: [To Durand] That's the way you
treat your guests! Is it any wonder the house has gone to pieces!
DURAND: Yes--that's the way--such guests!
But tell me, Thérèse, my child--[Takes her head between his hands] tell me, my
beloved child, tell me if I saw wrong just now, or if you told a falsehood.
THÉRÈSE: [Peevishly] What?
DURAND: You know what I mean. It isn't the
thing itself, which can be quite innocent--but it is a matter of whether I can
trust my senses that interests me.
THÉRÈSE: Oh, talk about something
else.--Tell us rather what we are going to eat and drink today. For that
matter, it's a lie; he didn't kiss me.
DURAND: It isn't a lie. In Heaven's name,
didn't I see it happen?
THÉRÈSE: Prove it.
DURAND: Prove it? With two witnesses or--a
policeman! [To Annette.] Annette, my child, will you tell me the truth?
ANNETTE: I didn't see anything.
DURAND: That's a proper answer. For one
should never accuse one's sister. How like your mother you are today, Annette!
ANNETTE: Don't you say anything about
mother! She should be living such a day as this!
[Adèle comes in with a glass of milk, which she puts on the table.]
ADÈLE: [To Durand] There's your milk. What
happened to the bread?
DURAND: Nothing, my children. It will
continue to come as it always has up to the present.
THÉRÈSE: [Grabs the glass of milk from her
father] You shall not have anything, you who throw away money, so that your
children are compelled to starve.
ADÈLE: Did he throw away money, the
wretch? He should have been put in the lunatic asylum the time mother said he
was ripe for it. See, here's another bill that came by way of the kitchen.
[Durand takes the bill and starts as he looks at it. Pours a glass of
water and drinks. Sits down and lights his briar pipe.]
ANNETTE: But he can afford to smoke tobacco.
DURAND: [Tired and submissively] Dear
children, this tobacco didn't cost me any more than that water, for it was
given to me six months ago. Don't vex yourselves needlessly.
THÉRÈSE: [Takes matches away] Well, at least
you shan't waste the matches.
DURAND: If you knew, Thérèse, how many
matches I have wasted on you when I used to get up nights to see if you had
thrown off the bedclothes! If you knew, Annette, how many times I have secretly
given you water when you cried from thirst, because your mother believed that
it was harmful for children to drink!
THÉRÈSE: Well, all that was so long ago that
I can't bother about it. For that matter, it was only your duty, as you have
said yourself.
DURAND: It was, and I fulfilled my duty and
a little more too.
ADÈLE: Well, continue to do so, or no one
knows what will become of us. Three young girls left homeless and friendless,
without anything to live on! Do you know what want can drive one to?
DURAND: That's what I said ten years ago,
but no one would heed me; and twenty years ago I predicted that this moment
would come, and I haven't been able to prevent its coming. I have been sitting
like a lone brakeman on an express train, seeing it go toward an abyss, but I
haven't, been able to get to the engine valves to stop it.
THÉRÈSE: And now you want thanks for landing
in the abyss with us.
DURAND: No, my child, I only ask that you
be a little less unkind to me. You have cream for the cat, but you begrudge
milk to your father, who has not eaten for--so long.
THÉRÈSE: Oh, it's you, then, who has
begrudged milk for my cat!
DURAND: Yes, it's I.
ANNETTE: And perhaps it is he who has eaten
the rats' bait, too.
DURAND: It is he.
ADÈLE: Such a pig!
THÉRÈSE: [Laughing] Think if it had been
poisoned!
DURAND: Alas, if only it had been, you
mean!
THÉRÈSE: Yes, you surely wouldn't have
minded that, you who have so often talked about shooting yourself--but have
never done it!
DURAND: Why didn't you shoot me? That's a
direct reproach. Do you know why I
haven't done it? To keep you from going into the lake, my dear children.--Say
something less unkind now. It's like hearing music--tunes that I
recognize--from the good old times--
ADÈLE: Stop such useless talk now and do
something. Do something.
THÉRÈSE: Do you know what the consequences
may be if you leave us in this shape?
DURAND: You will go and prostitute
yourselves. That's what your mother always said she'd do when she had spent the
housekeeping money on lottery tickets.
ADÈLE: Silence! Not a word about our dear,
beloved mother!
DURAND: [Half humming to himself] In this
house a candle burns, When it burns out the goal he earns, The goal once won,
the storm will come With a great crash. Yes! No!
[It has begun to blow outside and grown cloudy. Durand rises quickly.]
DURAND: [To Adèle] Put out the fire in the
stove. The wind storm is coming. ADÈLE: [Looking Durand in the eyes] No, the
wind is not coming.
DURAND: Put out the fire. If it catches
fire here, we'll get nothing from the insurance. Put out the fire, I say, put
it out.
ADÈLE: I don't understand you.
DURAND: [Looks in her eyes, taking her
hand] Just obey me, do as I say.
[Adèle goes into kitchen, leaving the door open. To Thérèse and Annette.]
Go up and shut the windows, children, and look after the draughts. But come and
give me a kiss first, for I am going away to get money for you.
THÉRÈSE: Can you get money?
DURAND: I have a life insurance that I
think I am going to realize on.
THÉRÈSE: How much can you get for it?
DURAND: Six hundred francs if I sell it,
and five thousand if I die. [Thérèse concerned.] Now, tell me, my child,--we
mustn't be needlessly cruel,--tell me, Thérèse, are you so attached to Antonio
that you would be quite unhappy if you didn't get him?
THÉRÈSE: Oh, yes!
DURAND: Then you must marry him if he
really loves you. But you mustn't be unkind to him, for then you'll be unhappy.
Good-bye, my dear beloved child. [Takes her in his arms and kisses her cheeks.]
THÉRÈSE: But you mustn't die, father, you
mustn't.
DURAND: Would you grudge me going to my
peace?
THÉRÈSE: No, not if you wish it yourself. Forgive me, father, the
many, many times I've been unkind to you.
DURAND: Nonsense, my child.
THÉRÈSE: But no one was so unkind to you as
I.
DURAND: I felt it less because I loved you
most. Why, I don't know. But run and shut the windows.
THÉRÈSE: Here are your matches, papa--and
there's your milk.
DURAND: [Smiling] Ah, you child!
THÉRÈSE: Well, what can I do? I haven't
anything else to give you.
DURAND: You gave me so much joy as a child
that you owe me nothing. Go now, and just give me a loving look as you used to
do. [Thérèse turns and throws herself into his arms.] So, so, my child, now all
is well. [Thérèse runs out.] Farewell, Annette.
ANNETTE: Are you going away? I don't
understand all this.
DURAND: Yes, I'm going.
ANNETTE: But of course, you're coming back,
papa.
DURAND: Who knows whether he will live
through the morrow? Anyway, we'll say farewell.
ANNETTE: Adieu, then, father--and a good
journey to you. And you won't forget to bring something home to us just as you
used to do, will you?
DURAND: And you remember that, though it's
so long since I've bought anything for you children? Adieu, Annette. [Annette goes.
Durand hums to himself.] Through good and evil, great and small, Where you have
sown, others gather all. [Adèle comes in.] Adèle, come, now you shall hear and
understand. If I speak in veiled terms, it is only to spare your conscience in
having you know too much. Be quiet. I've got the children up in their rooms.
First you are to ask me this question, "Have you a life insurance
policy?" Well?
ADÈLE: [Questioningly and uncertain]
"Have you a life insurance policy?"
DURAND: No, I had one, but I sold it long
ago, because I thought I noticed that someone became irritable when it was due.
But I have a fire insurance. Here are the papers. Hide them well. Now, I'm
going to ask you something; do you know how many candles there are in a pound,
mass candles at seventy-five centimes?
ADÈLE: There are six.
DURAND: [Indicating the package of candles]
How many candles are there?
ADÈLE: Only five.
DURAND: Because the sixth is placed very
high up and very near--
ADÈLE: --Good Lord!
DURAND: [Looking at his watch] In five
minutes or so, it will be burned out.
ADÈLE: No!
DURAND: Yes! Can you see dawn any other way
in this darkness?
ADÈLE: No.
DURAND: Well, then. That takes care of the
business. Now about another matter. If Monsieur Durand passes out of the world
as an [Whispers] incendiary, it doesn't matter much, but his children shall
know that he lived as a man of honor up to that time. Well, then, I was born in
France, but I didn't have to admit that to the first scamp that came along.
Just before I reached the age of conscription I fell in love with the one who
later became my wife. To be able to marry, we came here and were naturalized.
When the last war broke out, and it looked as if I was going to carry a weapon
against my own country, I went out as a sharpshooter against the Germans. I
never deserted, as you have heard that I did--your mother invented that story.
ADÈLE: Mother never lied--
DURAND: --So, so. Now the ghost has risen
and stands between us again. I cannot enter an action against the dead, but I
swear I am speaking the truth. Do you hear? And as far as your dowry is
concerned, that is to say your maternal inheritance, these are the facts:
first, your mother through carelessness and foolish speculations ruined your
paternal inheritance so completely that I had to give up my business and start
this pension. After that, part of her inheritance had to be used in the
bringing-up of you children, which of course cannot be looked upon as thrown
away. So it was also untrue that--
ADÈLE: No, that's not what mother said on
her death-bed--
DURAND: --Then your mother lied on her
death-bed, just as she had done all through her life. And that's the curse that
has been following me like a spook. Think how you have innocently tortured me
with these two lies for so many years! I didn't want to put disquiet into your
young lives which would result in your doubting your mother's goodness. That's
why I kept silent. I was the bearer of her cross throughout our married life; carried
all her faults on my back, took all the consequences of her mistakes on myself
until at last I believed that I was the guilty one. And she was not slow, first
to believe herself to be blameless, and then later the victim. "Blame it
on me," I used to say, when she had become terribly involved in some
tangle. And she blamed and I bore! But the more she became indebted to me, the
more she hated me, with the limitless hatred of her indebtedness. And in the
end she despised me, trying to strengthen herself by imagining she had deceived
me. And last of all she taught you children to despise me, because she wanted
support in her weakness. I hoped and believed that this evil but weak spirit
would die when she died; but evil lives and grows like disease, while soundness
stops at a certain point and then retrogrades. And when I wanted to change what
was wrong in the habits of this household, I was always met with "But
mother said," and therefore it was true; "Mother used to do this
way," and therefore it was right. And to you I became a good-for-nothing
when I was kind, a miserable creature when I was sensitive, and a scamp when I
let you all have your way and ruin the house.
ADÈLE: It's honorable to accuse the dead
who can't defend themselves!
DURAND: [Fast and exalted] I am not dead
yet, but I will be soon. Will you defend me then? No, you need not. But defend
your sisters. Think only of my children, Adèle. Take a motherly care of
Thérèse; she is the youngest and liveliest, quick for good and bad, thoughtless
but weak. See to it that she marries soon, if it can be arranged. Now, I can
smell burning straw.
ADELE: Lord protect us!
DURAND: [Drinks from glass] He will. And
for Annette you must try to find a place as teacher, so that she can get up in
the world and into good company. You must manage the money when it falls due.
Don't be close, but fix up your sisters so that they will be presentable to the
right kind of people. Don't save anything but the family papers, which are in
the top drawer of my chiffonier in the middle room. Here is the key. The fire
insurance papers you have. [Smoke is seen forcing its way through the ceiling.]
It will soon be accomplished now. In a moment you will hear the clanging from
St. François. Promise me one thing. Never divulge this to your sisters. It
would only disturb their peace for the rest of their lives. [He sits by the
table.] And one thing more, never a hard word against their mother. Her
portrait is also in the chiffonier; none of you knew that, because I found it
was enough that her spirit walked unseen in the home. Greet Thérèse, and ask
her to forgive me. Don't forget that she must have the best when you buy her
clothes; you know her weakness for such things and to what her weakness can
bring her. Tell Annette--
[A distant clanging of bells is heard; the smoke increases. Monsieur
Durand drops his head in his hands on the table.]
ADÈLE: It's burning, it's burning! Father,
what's the matter with you? You'll be burned up! [Durand lifts his head, takes
the water glass up and puts it down with a meaningful gesture.] You
have--taken--poison!
DURAND: [Nods affirmatively] Have you got
the insurance papers? Tell Thérèse-- and Annette--
[His head falls. The bell in distance strikes again. Rumbling and murmur
of voices outside.]
Glossary [Word Meaning of Facing
Death]
Monsieur (n.): (in countries where French is
spoken) a title used before the name of a man to refer to him, or used alone as
a formal and polite form of address
sous (n.): coins in Switzerland. 100 sou
coin is equal to five Swiss franc coin, a four sou coin is twenty Swiss-centime
mortgage (n): an agreement by which money is lent by a building society, bank,
etc. for buying a house or other property, the property being the security
reproach (v.): to blame or criticize
somebody/oneself, especially in a sad or disappointed way, for failing to do
something
privation (n): a lack of basic comforts and
things necessary for life
promenade (v.): to take a relaxed walk or ride
in public, especially in order to meet or be seen by others
francs (n.): the currency of Switzerland
impudence (n.): rudeness; lack of respect;
insolence
prerogative (n): a right or privilege,
especially one belonging to a particular person or group
scaffold (n): a platform on which people are
executed
scamp (n.): a child who enjoys playing
tricks and causing trouble abyss (n.): a hole so deep that it seems to have no
bottom draughts (n.): cracks from where air flows into a house
veiled (adj.): partly hidden
incendiary (adj.): designed to set buildings,
etc. on fire
conscription (n.): the act of forcing somebody by
law to serve in the armed forces spook (n.): a ghost
retrogrades (v.): to get worse; to return to a
less good condition exalted (adj.): in a state of extreme spiritual happiness
divulge (v.): to make something known,
especially a secret
chiffonier (n): a high chest of drawers, often
having a mirror at the top
Understanding the text
Question Answer of Facing Death
a. Where does the play take place?
b. Why do the grocery, the baker and the butcher send
their bills to the Durand household?
c. Why does Monsieur Duran spend money on candles when
he doesn’t have money to buy even bread?
d. Why did Monsieur Duran sell his life insurance?
e. Why has Monsieur Duran paid fire insurance?
f. How did Monsieur Duran and Mrs. Duran run out of
their inheritances from both the sides?
g. Why does Monsieur Duran tell a lie about his
birthplace?
h. What business is Monsieur Duran running to make a
living?
i. What plan does Monsieur Duran have to help his
daughters with money?
j. How does Monsieur Duran die?
Reference to the context
a. Sketch the character of Monsieur Duran.
b. How do we know that the Duran family has reached a
dead end?
c. ‘The mother, though already dead, seems to have had a
great influence on the daughters, especially Theresa.’ Do you agree?
d. Discuss the relationship between Monsieur Duran and
his wife.
e. ‘Money determines the relationship between characters
in this play.’ Elaborate this statement with examples from the play.
f. Monsieur Duran kills himself so that his daughters
would get 5000 francs as the compensation from the insurance company. What does
his plan tell us about him?
g. Discuss Facing Death as a modern tragedy.
Reference beyond the text
a. Write a few paragraphs describing the role of the
father in the family.
b. In his famous essay “The Experimental Novel,” Emile
Zola says: This is what constitutes the experimental novel: to possess a
knowledge of the mechanism of the phenomena inherent in man, to show the
machinery of his intellectual and sensory manifestations, under the influences
of heredity and environment, such as physiology shall give them to us, and then
finally to exhibit man living in social conditions produced by himself, which
he modifies daily, and in the heart of which he himself experiences a continual
transformation. (21)
To what extent do you agree with Zola’s idea that human beings’
intellectual as well as emotional capacities are determined by their
environment and heredity? Discuss with examples including Facing Death.