Transcriber's Note
The following linked Table of Contents is additional to the work as originally published.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
ACT I
SCENE I
SCENE II
SCENE III
SCENE IV
ACT II
SCENE I
SCENE II
SCENE III
ACT III
SCENE I
SCENE II
SCENE III
SCENE IV
SCENE V
Mary Magdalene
A Play in Three Acts
BY
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
Translated by
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1910
Copyright, 1910,
by MAURICE MAETERLINCK
[Pg v]
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I have borrowed from Mr. PaulHeyse’s drama, Maria von Magdala, theidea of two situations in my play, namely,at the end of the first act, the interventionof Christ, who stops the crowd ragingagainst Mary Magdalene with thesewords, spoken behind the scenes: “Hethat is without sin among you, let him castthe first stone;” and, in the third, thedilemma in which the great sinner findsherself, of saving or destroying the Son ofGod, according as she consents or refusesto give herself to a Roman.
Before setting to work, I asked the venerableGerman poet, whom I hold in thehighest esteem, for his permission to developthose two situations, which, so to[Pg vi]speak, were merely sketched in his play,with its incomparably richer plot thanmine; and I offered to recognize his rightsin whatever manner he thought proper.My respectful request was answered with arefusal, none too courteous, I regret tosay, and almost threatening.
From that moment, I was bound to considerthat the words from the Gospel,quoted above, are common property; andthat the dilemma of which I speak is oneof those which occur pretty frequently indramatic literatur