'In This Behold Me?'

Mary Lynch

Issue 350, vol.88, Summer 1999

Belacqua receives a rather unpleasant letter from his friend Lucien, a letter which would have added Dream, if published, to the list of banned books in the Ireland of that time. According to Pope, The Fops are painted Butterflies;/That flutter for a Day. Though irritated by Lucien and Liebert, two homosexual men, Belacqua tolerates them. Taking Pope's advice: Laugh at your Friends, and if your Friends are sore,/So much the better, you may laugh the more, 'Belacqua laffed and laffed' and 'sprained the rim of his belly' in so doing. Contemplation, the highest wisdom of God is best received in a spirit that is silent and detached from discursive knowledge and gratification . Belacqua disliked all animals, except the donkey 'seen full face'. It would appear that Belacqua is now casting an eye on Rome, the Whore of Babylon, in his search for wisdom.

The angel's words in Dante's dream come to mind. As I have mentioned, previously, this beautiful poem Night of May and the homespun Poet's Calvary by Night are based on passages from The Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross. Giovanni Battista tells us that this poetic wisdom, the knowledge which the theological poets have, is the first wisdom of the world of the gentile . Belacqua and the Smeraldina spend a rather argumentative New Year's Eve celebrations between the Ratskeller, the Barberina and the Meisters. The Smeraldina wishes to dance but Belacqua has to admit that he doesn't know how. The Mandarin arrives. Belacqual Sylvester and the Mandarin Jew argue as to the nature of love. Belacqua is a firm believer in St Thomas Aquinas's philosophy that it is natural for man to love himself', and that 'the man who has no love for himself will probably have no love for anyone else. And so Belacqua believes that 'Love condones...narcissism. Love demands narcissism.' Belacqua and the Mandarin go to a brothel while the Smeraldina, in a huff, goes off with the portrait painter. First love is dead. On that September night, his second on board ship to Cobh, Belacqua experiences The Dark Night of the Soul. White, green, and red, the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity, by which the soul gains the goodwill of its Beloved and safely fortifies itself against its enemies . The third colour red, denotes charity (love). 'This contemplation infuses both love and wisdom into the soul' . Divine wisdom illumines men who suffer this night on earth, which is composed of three nights . Also, 'the three colours the soul wears on this dark night are the most suitable preparation for union of the three faculties, intellect, memory, and understanding with God.... Only hope in God prepares the memory perfectly for union with God' .

Talking of love is making it, as a woman of Spain would know. Outside the aged gardener waters his flowers. At the gate Belacqua tells the storiette, that 'no gardener has died within the memory of roses' . Walking up the steep incline home he realises that, unlike the Alba, he has chosen the marginal part of life. The 'lemon of faith jaundiced', 'hopeless green', and 'carmine red' into 'cherry' were the colours Belacqua saw. It 'proffers Belacqua a sign.' 'Faith, Hope and - what was it? 'The Rabbi, the lemon-egg', whom Belacqua had studied in the picture of The Last Supper at his aunt's house, is the source of faith. He knows that in his Dark Night of the Soul, 'A man must walk by faith in his journey to God. Belacqua has a mystical experience. Years later Belacqua confides 'his mystical experience', 'his apex of ecstacy', his 'Dark Night of the Soul' to his friends. Belacqua makes his way to Lincoln Place, through Pearse St, thinking of St John's Eve. The Frica's, mother and daughter, are having a party to which Belacqua and the Alba are invited. In Dream (p.72) Belacqua leaves the Smeraldina 'playing there against the oak before the ash'. Belacqua arrives at the party, late, drunk, and very wet. This thick darkness is caused by God in the intellect of the soul to whom He gives His divine wisdom. This divine wisdom is not only night and darkness for the soul, it is also affliction and torment. The soul suffers immensely at this time . Also the connection between Dream and Cascando, Beckett's radio play.
Mary Lynch is engaged in research on the works of Samuel Beckett.