|
EVE
From a Collection of Crowley's Plays and Scenarios
Three men: A. Great. B. Good. C. Bad.
A. too big for her; so she goes for B., whom she destroys — always with the best intentions.
This smashes her life; she falls into the clutches of C. But the effect is to redeem him (C.) He dies, it is true, but in an heroic way so as to atone for all his past misdeeds.
This frees her; she can at last follow her True Will; so she gets A.; and all goes well.
Characters: 1. Hide-bound stupid harsh official. 2. Wooden Consul General. 3. Grouchy Consul. 4. Drunken Vice Consul. 5. Down and out artist. 6. Tango Lizard. 7. Confidence man — gambler. 8. Hotel people — their servility and ferocity. 9. Prosperous Jew bounder. 10. Prosperous portrait painter — snob.
1. Fashionable whore — rotten with disease. 2. Three-franc whore — clean and charming. 3. Newspaper woman — hopelessly imbecile. 4. Anarchist agitator. 5. “Clothes and diamond” woman — their opinions on life.
Scenes: 1. Teng-yeuh (or Tahi-Fu). 2. Red River. 3. Heup-hong — Hong Kong. 4. Honolulu. 5. Zapotlan San Marcos and the Volean de Colima. 6. Mexico Tacubaya. 7. El Paso. 8. New York 9. Boston and New Hampshire. 10. Granada. 11. Venice. 12. Cairo. 13. The Great Libyan Desert.
BOOK I
The Three Roads.
Cap.1. The Birth of a Tiger-Lily. Eve's father a colonial official (Consul), highly placed old fashioned aristocrat. Mother a famous actress; dies in childbirth. Eve's father brings her up very carefully but spoils her.
Cap.2. The Birth of a Tiger-Lily. Eve at 18. Three men come into her life. Ralph deRos, great traveller. Arrives at Colony from across desert. There are also Gabriel Sims, an American botanist, idealistic, virtuous, no knowledge of the world, delicate-minded scholar. Michael Harmon, a missionary engaged in smuggling spirits and drugs, blackmailing, swindling, etc. Eve's father wants Ralph to marry her. Eve is afraid of him; and he thinks her too young and silly for him. Gabriel dare not woo her as being socially and financially superior. Mike tries to get her for the same reasons.
Cap.3. The Dust-Devil. Native uprising. Consulate besieged. The consul is murdered. Ralph takes charge, rescues the station. Other stations fear rising will spread to them, so Ralph puts down the rebels with ruthless severity. Eve is horrified. Her folly nearly destroys the station.
Cap.3. The Choice. Ralph leads the party to rescue threatened station. Mike takes advantage to urge his suit. Gabriel defends her. Ralph returns. She consults him. He is in love with her, but she disgusts him by her failure to face reality. She marries Gabriel.
BOOK II
Soiled Haloes.
Gabriel comes into a fortune. They go to America, via Honolulu and Mexico to do uplift work. They gradually get contaminated. Gabriel does all sorts of crooked things for her sake. She feels herself the plaything of evil forces and both go down the hill morally almost without knowing it. Finally Gabriel is implicated in a horrible scandal. At this moment Mike returns. He is lecturing in their town. He takes advantage of the situation to persuade Gabriel to kill himself. Eve is fascinated by his triumphant wickedness. She has given up all hope of being decent and determines to have her fling. She offers herself to Mike at her husband's death bed. He dies cursing and blaspheming.
BOOK III
Gilded Horns.
Eve and Mike indulge in orgies of crime; but every one benefits. The dangers they undergo develop their courage and intelligence. A really serious situation arises, and they find themselves behaving with the most splendid heroism. Mike's final crime, in which he is killed, is in reality the salvation of the whole district. (They have had to fly from America to Egypt.) Eve, left alone, easily dominates the situation. She has discovered too that the labels “good” and “bad” mean nothing.
BOOK IV
The Winged Pan.
Mike's last crime was an imposture, pretending to be a Mohammedan Messiah. His death leaves Eve queen of a band of ferocious tribesmen who adore her. Disgusted with civilization, she leads them to a distant oasis which they capture. She has re-established slavery and destroyed the moral law. Rumours of the mysterious white prophetess reach Europe. Ralph wants to explore the place. After various desperate adventures he reaches the Oasis in disguise, only to be captured by the guards. But his moral force is such that they are afraid to execute him, and bring him to the prophetess to decide on his fate. He recognizes her and quells her by his knowledge of the Chinese affair. Her authority is shaken. It becomes a duel between them. Then it strikes her that it could be only one man who could master her, and the duel ends by recognition and love. They decide to extend their moral empire, travel round the world, and remedy all the old mischief by applying their Law.
|