Penelope and Ulysses (11 page)

It was difficult but achievable.

Could you have done it?

With those bloodstained hands,

could you have done it?

Don’t judge me as an ordinary man,

for I am of the land of the law,

of the blood of the land,

and of the people.

My will is of metal and my heart is of stone.

How do you think I have become master over so many lives?

By showing weakness in emotion?

Practising humanitarian acts of kindness and justice

to those I need to use and harvest

to bring expansion and glory for my country?

Your
country, Ulysses.

You should be praising me.

It does not matter what you have to do

as long as gain and profit is the result.

And well you know that the ordinary man

does not want to think and make decisions.

He is cowardly and lazy, and that is why

I have the power and permission from my people

to keep them in the privileges they are used to.

They do not want to lose their way of life and living,

and therefore we need to continue

our expansion and conquest of others.

ULYSSES: Great, Agamemnon.

What a great political animal you are.

And when you stop the rhetoric,

it comes down to the ground

where the blood has been spilled,

where it will continue to be spilled.

You and I are murderers of the young and innocent.

AGAMEMNON: A murderer, Ulysses?

How do you think you became master of all these lands?

Did you not murder men, women, and children in their sleep?

So that you can become a master in this land.

So that you can have servants doing your work in the fields.

So that you can fornicate all day and night without worrying

about earning your living by working.

How do you think you got this privileged life?

How do you think you got these lands

and these rights that other men do not have?

Do you still insist that you are mad?

ULYSSES: You are right. I have done all these things.

I am lost.

I am confused.

I am losing my mind.

AGAMEMNON: So be it! Enough!

[
To
a
soldier
outside
the
door
] Take Ulysses son.

He must be outside. I saw him as I came in.

Bring two strong horses and tie

one on the left arm of his son

and the other on the right arm,

and then ask the soldier to get the horses to run

in different directions.

Do this now!

Come, Ulysses, to the window,

so that you can see.

Since you are claiming that you are mad,

you will neither know the danger nor care.

[
Screams
are
heard
from
Telemachus,
Ulysses’s
son
.]

TELEMACHUS [
offstage
]: [
screaming
] Father, where are they taking me?

AGAMEMNON: Come, Ulysses.

This cutting in half of your son

will feed and keep your madness.

[
PENELOPE
enters
the
room
to
ask
what
is
happening
.]

AGAMEMNON: Good of you to join us, Penelope.

Obviously you are looking for your screaming son.

He’s out in the courtyard with my men.

[
PENELOPE
moves
towards
the
door
.]

AGAMEMNON: Stop. If you leave this room, that boy is dead

before you get to the courtyard.

[
PENELOPE
draws
closer
to
ULYSSES
.]

Come, Penelope.

Come and watch the cutting in half of your son.

I think the black horse will do more damage.

It seems stronger than the grey one.

I like children.

Actually, I love children.

I recently lost one of my pretty ones

and feel closer to her

by watching the cutting in half of yours.

Tell me, Penelope,

is it true that your husband has tried to trick me

by pretending that he is mad?

Why, only a mad man would put salt in his fields,

and only a mad man will allow

his son to be torn limb from limb as he watches.

The lengths to which men go

to stay in a woman’s bed.

Is he mad, Penelope?

Can you confirm or deny

either his sanity or his clever insanity?

ULYSSES: [
having
been
frozen
to
the
window
that
overlooks
the
court
yard
]

Stop! Tell them to untie my son and bring him back to his mother!

[
AGAMEMNON
looks
out
the
window
into
the
courtyard
and
orders
his
men
to
stop
.]

AGAMEMNON: Untie the boy, but leave him with you, until I finish

speaking with Ulysses.

ULYSSES: Leave my son and wife out of this matter.

This is between you and me.

AGAMEMNON: What is this I hear?

You are not mad, Ulysses?

You have tried to trick me?

Shame on you, Ulysses,

for now you have made angry.

And you know what a damaging emotion this is for me.

Speak to me, Ulysses.

ULYSSES: Do not involve my son or wife in this.

AGAMEMNON: You have involved them by hiding the truth from me.

So how can I not involve them

when you have refused to come with me because of them?

You leave me no choice.

Penelope, has your husband grown old

and slow in his wits?

In the old days

he would have jumped at the chance

to bring honour and fame to his country.

He would have invented the war

to gain more land and wealth.

Now he complicates the life of his family

and this war with a madness that he claims he has,

and worse—this madness stinks

of manipulation and deception!

Shame on you, Ulysses, for trying to trick me

with your martial cleverness.

I think he has become this way

because he has not been in battle.

He has lost the purpose and direction of what a man must do.

Rather he has been sitting here in Ithaca and rotting,

devising a clever insanity

so that I can declare him mad

and leave him here to rut and fornicate.

PENELOPE: Please spare my son’s life.

My husband makes his own decisions

with or without my approval.

Let me go and get my son and give him lunch.

AGAMEMNON: Leave him there with my men for a little while longer.

Some of my men love young boys,

and they have not seen one in some time.

Penelope, my messengers tell me

of your wit, your humour,

your discipline, and your prowess with the sword.

You are an accomplished woman.

You have rights and your own ideas—

although, at this very moment

you look dumb and stupid,

helpless and anxious for the safety of your son.

Come, Penelope,

Defend or betray your husband.

It makes no difference to me.

So much for your wit.

Look at you, standing there, like a mute.

One can be witty when she is comfortable

and with friends.

Now that you have a crisis, Penelope,

you are tongueless.

I can arrange that also!

ULYSSES: Agamemnon, let me appeal to you,

for all the things that we have done together,

for all the times that we have saved each other’s lives.

AGAMEMNON: Stop, Ulysses. I am having fun.

Tell me, Penelope,

is your old husband losing his senses?

Is he going to be useless to me in Troy?

Will he serve you better to stay in your bed?

Let me hear your voice and wit, Penelope.

PENELOPE: There are stages for all things

and phases in life.

Ulysses is older and is forgetful and neglectful

in simple and complex things

concerning the running of Ithaca.

Therefore, he should be admired

for seeking to serve you

with sincerity and a moral conscience

by telling you of his weakness.

AGAMEMNON: I am surrounded by well-rehearsed actors.

So what you are telling me is that your husband,

a man that has made blood vows to me,

is really mildly mad

and that he has a moral fibre

for speaking the truth to me?

So you are going to protect your husband’s bad judgement

and make him out to be an ethical man?

Ulysses
, an
ethical
man?

Did I miss anything?

ULYSSES: Allow my wife and son to leave so that we can speak as men.

AGAMEMNON: Now this is deep for me, Ulysses.

I don’t remember being anything else but a man.

Sentimentality is wasted on me, Ulysses.

Now let me tell you what I am going to do.

I will tear your son limb from limb with those horses outside,

and you will have two of him.

Or will I give him to my men

as I have told you before.

There are men in my army that are especially fond of young boys.

ULYSSES: Stop, Agamemnon! Stop!

AGAMEMNON: No, Ulysses.

You have taken me this far

and now I will take you further than you want to go.

I will take you and your family into brutality and hell.

ULYSSES: I have served you and have assisted you

in your accumulation of wealth and power.

I have been stained by the same enemies’ blood.

I have fought side by side with you.

We have saved each other’s lives in many war struggles.

AGAMEMNON: I have told you before that I can go further into hell.

I think you stop at the gate.

I come from there and live there,

and will bring this hell to your wife and son.

I will finish what you cannot.

You should have not started this clever madness with me.

You should not have tested my patience and

blood vows that I have taken with you in the past.

You will stand quietly while I tell you

what I will do with your wife,

the one that you want to stay with.

You will not interrupt me again

while I take you into this the great suffering

that involves your son’s and wife’s destiny at my hands,

at my men’s hands.

I will consume her physically—and you know I am carnivorous—

burn your lands,

kill your servants and villagers.

My men can get some practice on your kindred:

they are a little restless.

I will not kill you.

I will make you watch.

I will have you tied to the bed.

After I have violently consumed your wife

and she has surrendered to me,

I will hand what is left of her to my men

who have not seen a woman for some time.

And the last man who has her

will decide what her fate will be.

Maybe she will be returned to me—

but I do not feed on the meat

that other men have fornicated on and have eaten from. [
He
goes
over
to
Penelope
and
puts
his
hand
on
her
groin.
]

PENELOPE: I would rather die!

AGAMEMNON: But you will!

But not before giving pleasure to me and to many other men.

And you, Ulysses, will be tied to the bed.

You will watch it all!

And after we have finished

and burned everything,

you will come with me to Troy,

and you will advise me on matters of war.

ULYSSES: Why would I come with you after you have killed everyone I love?

AGAMEMNON: Thank you, Ulysses.

See how intelligent your wits are?

You are right.

Why would you come

if you have nothing to live for?

So I’ll tell you what I will do instead.

We will take Penelope with us to Troy and we will all share her.

We will also take your son,

so the men in my army who are fond of young boys

can share him.

That way they are alive and you will be useful to me.

Does this please you more?

ULYSSES: I will come with you and I will serve you as I did before.

Let my wife and son go, I beg you.

AGAMEMNON: It is not enough that you just come with me.

I want you to be involved in this war with a full heart.

That is the only way you will be useful

to me and my men.

If you do not come of your own free will,

I will keep your wife and son alive

but they will be sexual servants to me and my men.

Sometimes, my friend,

there are worse things than death.

ULYSSES: I will come on my own free will and with a full heart.

AGAMEMNON: [
looks
out
the
window
and
yells
to
his
men
] Let the boy go.

Go to your son, Penelope.