_______________
ELIZABETH:
Three years!
Three years, priest.
Three years alone in this room.
On some days I can hear children playing in the gardens. I can hear lovers laughing. I hear the balls and parties. I smell the flowers.
How I want to feel the grass beneath my feet.
The sun on my face.
[Pause.]
Is that so much to ask for?
When I was a child, things were so much simpler. I lived in a great castle. Surrounded by servants. I was given everything I wanted or needed.
My friends and I would skip and jump through the woods, wade in the streams. Play in the flowers. We would lie on a grassy knoll and let the sun warm us and turn our cheeks red. We would dance in the snow and laugh at the storms.
What did we care about duty? Our duty was to be young and to play. That was no hardship. It was our pleasure.
Is that so much to ask for?
But that all changed.
As a child I became a mother. As a child I became a wife and mistress of a great estate. All of a sudden I had duties, responsibilities. I had a husband, servants, accounts. I was hostess and confidant. I sat and smiled as kings and princes pinched my cheek and congratulated my husband on his new toy.
Where were my toys? Who congratulated me? Where were my friends?
Why wasn’t I allowed to be a child forever?
Is that so much to ask?
All I ever wanted was to remain young. To remain beautiful. To have pleasure and joy.
Is that so much to ask for?
I am a woman. That is all that I am. I don’t think that’s so bad. But I never got to hold my own child. I never really got to be a child. I was never a child to my own mother. I was just an object. A bargaining chip. A deal, an exchange, a commodity.
I just wanted to be loved for who I was. Who I am. What I was. Not because of what I meant. Or was worth.
Is that so much to ask for.
[Pause.]
What do you want, priest?
Don’t tell me to save my soul. What do you get out of this?
Advancement?
PRIEST:
Confess your sins to God.
ELIZABETH:
How old are you, priest? Twenty-five?
Is your career moving too slowly for you?
Will I be able to help you that much?
PRIEST:
Confess. Return to God’s Grace.
ELIZABETH:
Did you know that there have been Popes younger than you?
PRIEST:
If you confess, if you leave off your heresy and join the true church, I might be able to convince the Archbishop to ask that you be allowed into the garden.
From time to time.
ELIZABETH:
What if you could have more time?
PRIEST:
You would rather rot here alone?
ELIZABETH:
Maybe I could help you.
PRIEST:
Repent.
ELIZABETH:
Piss on you, priest. I will not be a part of your political games. You will not have Elizabeth Bathory.
PRIEST:
Repent.
In the name of God the father, repent.
ELIZABETH:
Would you like me to help you?
PRIEST:
Repent.
For your soul.
In the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, repent.
ELIZABETH:
Would you like me to give you more time?
PRIEST:
Repent.
For mine!
In the name of the Holy Spirit, repent!
ELIZABETH:
Is that why your here?
[Softly we hear the voices of her VICTIMS pleading for mercy. Gradually the voices become louder and louder. Then come the voices of the FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS crying for there lost daughters. The VICTIMS finally begin to scream as they are tortured. ELIZABETH’S VOICE begins to call out her refrain “I am the Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Ordained by God. I can do know wrong.” (Or “My desires are law.” Or “Who are you to condemn me?”)]
[At some point during this ELIZABETH turns and looks at the PRIEST. He drops to his knees.]
[The voices continue over his speech and the PRIEST must compete with them and still be understood. Whether or not he hears the voices is not for me to decide.]
PRIEST:
Save me, O God, by thy name, and by thy might defend my cause. Hear me, O God, my prayer. Hearken to the words of my mouth. Turn back the evil upon my foes. In your faithfulness destroy them. Hearken, O God, to my prayer. Turn not away from my pleading. Give heed to me and answer me.
[By the time the PRIEST gets to the end, the voices should be deafening. ELIZABETH has not moved all this time, but has merely stared at the PRIEST.]
[All sound abruptly stops.]
PRIEST:
What devil are you?
[There is a long and equally deafening silence.]
ELIZABETH:
No devil you would ever want to meet.
[Again silence.]
[What follows is the PRIEST’s next speech in toto. Following that will be ELIZABETH’s lines. The two speeches, and her actions, may overlap to some degree.]
PRIEST:
I exorcise thee, most vile spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Hear and fear, seducer of men.
Depart, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Yield, yield to the minister of Christ. For it is God who commands thee.
God the father commands thee.
God the Son commands thee.
God the Holy Ghost commands thee.
The sacred cross commands thee.
The faith of the holy apostles commands thee.
The blood of the martyrs commands thee.
The word made flesh commands thee.
He who was born of the Virgin commands thee.
Jesus of Nazareth commands thee.
Now depart! Depart, seducer. For if thou hast deceived man, thou canst not mock God.
ELIZABETH:
I know what you want, priest.
You want what they all want.
Do you really think that any of them cared about a few hundred peasant girls? There will always be more peasants.
No, they feared me.
There feared what they would do for me.
This face. This is what they wanted to see.
This body. This is what they wanted to touch.
Noble, bishop, king. They all wanted.
And it was mine to give or not.
They could not control me as they wanted to.
That is why they locked me away.
Do you see what they wanted?
Do you understand why they were so scared?
What do you want, priest?
Do you really want me to go?
Do you fear that I will stay?
I am young and beautiful. I will be young and beautiful when these castle walls are dust. When you are dead and forgotten.
You want confession, priest? I have loved more than you could imagine. I have felt their hands on me. Their breath on my skin. They filled me with their life and their need.
I have seen their desire destroy them as it fed me.
[Long pause.]
Touch me, priest.
[She takes the PRIEST’s hands and places them on her.]
Give me your youth and I will give you mine.
Give me your love and I will confess to you.
Love me, Priest. Love me and I will give you all you want.
[She mounts him.]
Take, for this is given to you for everlasting youth.
I entrust to you, priest, my whole life and hope.
I believe and, priest, that you are truly the one who came into the world to save me. I also believe that this is truly your pure body and that this is truly your precious blood. Therefore, I pray to you, have mercy upon me, and forgive my transgressions, voluntary involuntary, in word and deed, known and unknown. And make me worthy without condemnation to partake of your pure Mysteries life eternal.
Take, for this is the salvation of your servant, gracious and bountiful and long suffering, who desires not death but rather that she live.
[With a scream, the PRIEST struggles and fights his way from ELIZABETH.]
[She collapses into his arms. They lie spent for a long moment. Slowly he rolls ELIZABETH from him. She ends up near the fireplace, just as she was at the beginning of the play. He takes the ragged cloak from the floor and covers her completely with it.]
[Emotionally, spiritually, and physically spent, he drops to his knees and prays silently. Finished, he crosses himself.]
ELIZABETH:
Father.
PRIEST:
No.
No!
ELIZABETH:
You want me.
PRIEST:
Yes.
No!
[Long pause.]
ELIZABETH:
Men have killed for what I would give you.
PRIEST:
And they will burn in hell.
ELIZABETH:
I am beautiful.
PRIEST:
Yes.
No.
No!
ELIZABETH:
I am beauty.
PRIEST:
You are not.
ELIZABETH:
I have the power. Yield to me.
Yield to me!
PRIEST:
I deny you.
I deny your power.
This is not beauty. This is only flesh.
Whatever you may have been, you are nothing now.
[They look at each other for some moments.]
Guard!
Guard!
Open the door.
[After a moment, the locks are removed and the door opened. The GUARD enters.]
I am ready to go. My job is finished.
GUARD
Yes, father.
Is she?
PRIEST:
Leave her!
GUARD
Sir?
PRIEST:
Let her remain here.
Seal the door again.
GUARD
May I look at her, father?
PRIEST:
No.
GUARD
It’s only that, well, she was supposed to be so lovely.
PRIEST:
Her sins have caught up with her.
Beauty, my son, comes from God. It is a gift for him to give or take away.
Salvation lies in faith and good deeds. Therein lies true beauty.
When she approaches God’s judgment, she will wear her true face.
Let us leave this foul place.
[The two leave.]
[As we hear the locks being replaced and the door being walled up again, all we see is the lonely figure or ELIZABETH.]
[The lights fade.]
* * * * *
THE END
* * * * *