Must I now, in all seriousness, go out in the world and work
for the attainment of my every wish? If only I were not so alone!
Yet, why not as well be alone, since there is no such thing as
friendship, and everything is so false and empty? Damnation!
[Enter Lisa.]
LISA. Don't curse, Pehr!
PEHR. Lisa! You do not forsake me, although I forgot you in my
prosperous days.
LISA. It is in our need that we find our friends.
PEHR. Friends? A curse on friendship!
LISA. Don't, Pehr! There are real friendships in life as well as
false friends.
PEHR. I have now tried the good things of life, and I found only
emptiness and vanity!
LISA. You have tried in your way--meantime you have made the first
plunge of youth, and now you shall be a man! You have looked for
happiness in the wrong direction. Don't you want to go out and do
good, enlighten your fellow-men, and be useful? For your clear
vision can penetrate the perversion and crookedness which one finds
in life.
PEHR. And be a great man!
LISA. Great or obscure, it is all one. You shall be useful--you
shall be a reformer who leads humanity onward and upward.
PEHR. Yes, a reformer who will be honored and idolized by the
people, and whose name will be on everyone's lips.
LISA. Oh, how far you are from the truth, Pehr! You seek greatness
only for personal honor; you shall have it and you shall have a new
experience.
PEHR. But how? My ring is gone!
LISA. The qualities inherent in that ring are such that it can
never be away from its owner.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42