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| Character | Lucifer???? | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Angry, Scolding, Persuasive, Inspirational, Descriptive | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1821 | |
| Period | 19th Century | |
| Genre | Drama | |
| Description | Lucifer mentors Cain about his nature and death | |
| Location | ACT II, Scene 2 | |
Summary
This play is a dramatization of the story of Cain and Abel. Cain, regarding his own mortality as an unfair punishment for Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden of Eden, refuses to worship God. As he refuses to participate in a family's prayer to God, he argues that he has nothing to thank God for as he is fated to die. Anxious to learn about death, Cain follows Lucifer into the Hades. Lucifer shows Cain a vision of the Earth's and human history and teaches him to accept his mortal nature and the "gift of reason" that God gave him which will bring him "nearer his spiritual nature".
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| LUCIFER: "No! By heaven, which he Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity Of worlds and life, which I hold with him—No! I have a Victor—true; but no superior. Homage he has from all—but none from me: I battle it against him, as I battled In highest Heaven—through all Eternity, And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades, And the interminable realms of space, And the infinity of endless ages, All, all, will I dispute! And world by world, And star by star, and universe by universe, Shall tremble in the balance, till the great Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease, Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quenched! And what can quench our immortality, Or mutual and irrevocable hate? He as a conqueror will call the conquered Evil; but what will be the Good he gives? Were I the victor, his works would be deemed The only evil ones. And you, ye new And scarce-born mortals, what have been his gifts To you already, in your little world? [Cain. But few; and some of those but bitter.] Lucifer: "Back With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest Of his celestial boons to you and yours. Evil and Good are things in their own essence, And not made good or evil by the Giver; But if he gives you good—so call him; if Evil springs from him, do not name it mine, Till ye know better its true fount; and judge Not by words, though of Spirits, but the fruits Of your existence, such as it must be. One good gift has the fatal apple given,— Your reason:—let it not be overswayed By tyrannous threats to force you into faith 'Gainst all external sense and inward feeling: Think and endure,—and form an inner world In your own bosom—where the outward fails; So shall you nearer be the spiritual Nature, and war triumphant with your own. [They disappear. |
