Robert Bolt

We are still faced with a long, hard voyage. I mean to make good use of every hour of sailing time, and to assist me in this, I am replacing Mr. Fryer with Mr. Christian, who will now act as executive second in command, with the rank of Acting Second Lieutenant…

The Royal Navy is not a humorous institution, sir, and insubordination is no laughing matter.

Around the Horn is the easiest way, the better way, and that is how we will go. Anything more?

He was insubordinate, cowardly and insubordinate, he frightened the men, I did not put that fear there, he did. So he will be lashed and we will go around the Horn. Are you frightened to go around the Horn, Mr. Christian? Are you a coward too, sir?

Well, I shall have to try and navigate from memory, Mr. Fryer. It will take us close to the most savage islands in these waters, the Fiji Islands, where cannibalism is perfected almost to a science, and from there, my friends, God willing, we shall proceed on to the Great Barrier Reef itself, then to New Holland, and from there across the Timor Sea to Kupang. And now it will take us at least two months, and we have provisions and water enough to last us one week. So that is the situation, gentlemen, plain and simple.

Make the best of it, Smith? Yes! But will you? That's what I'd ask myself. Will you make the best of it? You hear me? Are you prepared to make the best of it, all of you? Because all I can promise you, lads, is relentless pain and hardship. Now if you're prepared to make do, and make sacrifices, and furthermore are willing to swear by it, I promise you our chances of survival are fair. You hear me? You all say "Aye"?

So, you think I'm harsh with you, hey? I've been at sea many years Fletcher, since I was 12, and in that time I've seen many men, many good men fall for island women in these waters. I've never once seen it come out well. Of course I understand the excitement and the... but think to yourself, man. Could you bring a woman like that home to your friends and your family? No, of course you couldn't. They're not like us, Fletcher. You think I was harsh with you, but you needed someone to show you where your duty really lay, because you were at a loss, my friend. You may not thank me now but you will eventually. So, let's get the ship running again and get back to where we were before.

My dear God. I had hoped to avoid this.

Damn it all, man. I'm expected to sleep with her. She's one of King Tynah's wives. A gift from one chief to another, as it were. Now look, five minutes after I go below you must call me up on some important business, all right?

Business, damn it; any bloody business.

I hope never to see Fletcher Christian again. Unless it is to see him hanged.

Three men jumped ship last night. Churchill was one of them. You don't seem surprised?

Well, I must say I'm no longer surprised myself now that I see the example that's being set by my first officer. Just look at yourself, man, look at the way you're dressed. Come on, you're no better than one of these natives.

Mr. Christian, I think your brain has received too much sunlight and your body overindulged in sexual excess.

No, you've done no more than any wild animal would do. It always makes me laugh that whenever men lose their self-restraint they always say they're "natural".

Mr. Christian, you will report to the ship by sundown tonight.

What did you say? No? Is that what you said? Is that what you said? No? All right, you will report to the ship immediately and you will stay on the ship. There'll be no more fraternizing with the damned degenerate natives of these islands by any of my officers or any of my crew. You comprehend my meaning, sir?

God damn you, man. Don't you bloody cross me.

Well gentlemen, between ourselves and home lies 2300 sea miles, the Endeavor Straits and the Great Barrier Reef. Now the crew is deeply demoralized and I must accept, as every captain must, the inevitable and theoretical responsibility for that. The actual and immediate responsibility, however, I place on you, my fellow officers who met this crisis with lethargy, impudence and flagrant defiance, publicly uttered. And perhaps for that I am also to blame. I counted on a strength of character which you do not possess. However, the cure for our predicament is discipline and I shall apply it with an even hand of course, but most where it is most required.

I'll not have your vile ways brought aboard my ship, sir! Do you understand? Now you'll call up the swabbing party yet again! And this time you will make bloody sure that the decks are clean, or by God you will answer for it, sir! I'll not have any of your foul, filthy, gutter ways on board my ship! Do you understand? Good God, pigs in a sty have more comprehension of cleanliness than you buggers have! Now you'll get these decks clean, or by God I'll make you lick them clean with your tongue if you don't mend your ways!

You will clean up this ship and yourselves!

Mr Cole, hoist the Jack. It's not proper to land without identification.

Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?

Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?

But Richard, that's a little bribe. At court they offer you all sorts of things, home, manors, manor houses, coats of arms. Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one.

You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that. Oh, and a quiet life.

I do none harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.

I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

When a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again.

If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice, and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little - even at the risk of being heroes.

Well, finally, it isn't a matter of reason. Finally, it's a matter of love.

But what matters to me is not whether it's true or not, but that I believe it to be true, or rather not that I *believe* it, but that *I* believe it. I trust I make myself obscure.

Now, listen, Will. Two years ago you were a passionate churchman. Now you're a passionate Lutheran. We must just pray that when your head's finished turning, your face is to the front again.

Listen, Meg, God made the angels to show Him splendor, as He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind. If He suffers us to come to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can, and, yes, Meg, then we can clamor like champions, if we have the spittle for it. But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to such a pass. Our natural business lies in escaping. If I can take the oath, I will.

Not so. Not so, Master Secretary. The maxim is "Qui tacet consentire": the maxim of the law is "Silence gives consent". If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented, not that I denied.

The world must construe according to its wits; this court must construe according to the law.

Since the Court has determined to condemn me, God knoweth how, I will now discharge my mind concerning the indictment and the King's title. The indictment is grounded in an act of Parliament which is directly repugnant to the law of God, and his Holy Church, the Supreme Government of which no temporal person may by any law presume to take upon him. This was granted by the mouth of our Savior, Christ himself, to Saint Peter and the Bishops of Rome whilst He lived and was personally present here on earth. It is, therefore, insufficient in law to charge any Christian to obey it. And more to this, the immunity of the Church is promised both in Magna Carta and in the king's own coronation oath!

Not so. I am the king's true subject, and I pray for him and all the realm. I do none harm. I say none harm. I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, then in good faith, I long not to live. Nevertheless, it is not for the Supremacy that you have sought my blood, but because I would not bend to the marriage!I am commanded by the King to be brief, and since I am the King's obedient subject, brief I will be. I die his Majesty's good servant but God's first.

Some men think the earth is round, others think it flat. It is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King's command make it round? And if it is round, will the King's command flatten it?

I will not give in, because I oppose it. Not my pride, not my spleen, nor any other of my appetites, but I do, l. Is there, in the midst of all this muscle, no sinew that serves no appetite?

You may suppose I have objections. All you know is that I will not swear to it, for which you cannot lawfully harm me further. But if you were right in supposing me to have objections, and right again in supposing my objections to be treasonable, the law would let you cut my head off.

I have no window to look into another man's conscience. I condemn no one.

Not at all, Alice. I expect I'll write a bit. I'll write, I'll read, I'll think. I think I'll learn to fish. I'll play with my grandchildren when son Roper's done his duty.

No! Alice, it's a point of law. Accept it from me, Alice, that in silence is my safety, under the law. And my silence must be absolute, it must extend to you.

Affection goes as deep in me as you, I think. But only God is love right through.

Whatever may be done by smiling, you may rely on me to do. Set your mind at rest. This is not the stuff of which martyrs are made.

Lara, I am determined to save you from a dreadful error. There are two kinds of men, and only two, and that young man is one kind. He is high-minded. He is pure. He is the kind of man that the world pretends to look up to and in fact despises. He is the kind of man who breeds unhappiness; particularly in women. Now, do you understand?

I think you do. There's another kind. Not high-minded. Not pure. But alive. Now that your taste at this time should incline towards the juvenile is understandable. But for you to marry that boy would be a disaster. Because there's two kinds of women...

There are two kinds of women and you - as we well know - are not the first kind.

You, my dear, are a slut.

Who are you to refuse my sugar? Who are you to refuse me anything?

Yuri Andreiivich, you've changed. Larisa - remarkably the same.

We're all made of the same clay, you know! Clay! Claaaaay!

He's a very fine young man. That's obvious.

Spare me your expressions of regret. He was a murderous neurotic of no use to anyone. Do you see how this affects Larissa? You don't. You're a fool. She's Strelnikov's wife. Why do you think they haven't arrested her - is this the usual practice? Why do you think they had her watched at Yuriatin? They were waiting for Strelnikov.

They knew him well enough. He was only five miles from here when they caught him. He was arrested on the open road. He didn't conceal his identity - indeed throughout the interview he insisted they call him Pavel Antipov, which is his right name, and refused to answer to the name Strelnikov. On his way to execution, he took a pistol from one of the guards and blew his own brains out.

I think I know Lara at least as well as you. But don't you see how this affects her position? She's served her purpose. These men that came with me today as an escort will come for her and the child tomorrow as a firing squad! Now, I know exactly what you think of me, and why, but if you're not coming with me she's not coming with me! So, are you coming with me? Do you accept the protection of this ignoble Caliban on any terms that Caliban cares to make... or is your delicacy so exorbitant that you would sacrifice a woman and a child to it?

And don't delude yourself that this was rape! That would flatter us both!

I told myself it was beneath my dignity to arrest a man for pilfering firewood. But nothing ordered by the party is beneath the dignity of any man, and the party was right: One man desperate for a bit of fuel is pathetic. Five million people desperate for fuel will destroy a city. That was the first time I ever saw my brother. But I knew him. And I knew that I would disobey the party. Perhaps it was the tie of blood between us, but I doubt it. We were only half tied anyway, and brothers will betray a brother. Indeed, as a policeman, I would say, get hold of a man's brother and you're halfway home. Nor was it admiration for a better man than me. I did admire him, but I didn't think he was a better man. Besides, I've executed better men than me with a small pistol. I told them who I was: The old man was hostile, the girl cautious, my brother… seemed very pleased. I think the girl was only one who guessed at their position.

By the second winter, the boots had worn out... but the line still held. Even Comrade Lenin underestimated both the anguish of that 900-mile long front... as well our own cursed capacity for suffering. Half the men went into action without any arms... irregular rations... led by officers they didn't trust.

Finally, when they could stand it no longer, they began doing what every army dreams of doing…

They began to go home. That was the beginning of the Revolution.

She'd come to Moscow to look for her child. I helped her as best I could, but I knew it was hopeless. I think I was a little in love with her. One day she went away and didn't come back. She died or vanished somewhere, in one of the labor camps. A nameless number on a list that was afterwards mislaid. That was quite common in those days.

In bourgeois terms, it was a war between the Allies and Germany. In Bolshevik terms, it was a war between the Allied and German upper classes - and which of them won was of total indifference. My task was to organize defeat, so as to hasten the onset of revolution. I enlisted under the name of Petrov. The party looked to the peasant conscript soldiers - many of whom were wearing their first real pair of boots. When the boots had worn out, they'd be ready to listen. When the time came, I was able to take three whole battalions out of the front lines with me - the best day's work I ever did. But for now, there was nothing to be done. There were too many volunteers. Most of it was mere hysteria.

He was walking about with a noose round his neck and didn't know. So I told him what I'd heard about his poems.

So, your Holiness, now your priests are dead, and I am left alive. But in truth it is I who am dead, and they who live. For as always, your Holiness, the spirit of the dead will survive in the memory of the living.

With an orchestra, the Jesuits could have subdued the entire continent.

Your Holiness, the little matter that brought me here to the furthest edge of your light on Earth is now settled. The Indians are once more free to be enslaved by the Spanish and Portuguese settlers. I don't think that's hitting the right note. Begin again... Your Holiness, I write to you in this year of Our Lord 1758 from the southern continent of the Americas, from the town of Asunción, in the Province of La Plata, two weeks march from the great mission of San Miguel. These missions have provided a refuge for the Indians against the worst depredations of the settlers and have earned much resentment because of it. The noble souls of these indians incline towards music. Indeed, many a violin played in the academies of Rome itself has been made by their nimble and gifted hands. It was from these mission the Jesuit fathers carried the word of God to the high and undiscovered plateau to those Indians still existing in their natural state and received in return, martyrdom.

Your Holiness, a surgeon to save the body must often hack off a limb. But in truth nothing could prepare me for the beauty and the power of the limb that I had come here to sever.

I assure you, Father Gabriel, that the courts of Europe are a jungle in comparison with which your jungle here is a well-kept garden.

And you have the effrontery to tell me that this slaughter was necessary?

With an orchestra, the Jesuits could have subdued the whole continent. So it was that the Indians of the Guarani were brought finally to account to the everlasting mercy of God, and to the short-lived mercy of man.

So I had arrived in South America, my head replete with the matters of Europe. But I soon began to understand, for the first time, what a strange world I had been sent to judge.

This seeking to create a paradise on earth... how easily it offends. Your Holiness is offended. Because it may distract from that paradise which comes hereafter. The Spanish and Portuguese kings are offended... because a paradise of the poor is seldom pleasing to those who rule. And the Settlers here are offended for the same reason. So it was this burden I Carried to South America: To satisfy the Portuguese wish to enlarge their empire. To satisfy the Spanish desire that this would do them no harm... to satisfy Your Holiness... that these monarchs would threaten no more the power of the Church... and to ensure for you all... that the Jesuits here could no longer deny you these satisfactions.

Though I knew that everywhere in Europe the states were tearing at the authority of the Church, and though I knew well that to preserve itself there the Church must show its authority over the Jesuits here, I still couldn't help wondering whether these Indians would not have preferred that the sea and wind had not brought any of us to them.