Presented in sequential order
N Narrator
And when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour... And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
The Bible, Revelation 8:1 and 8:6
Block
[cut to Crusader Antonius Block, resting near crashing waves on the beach; silence abruptly descends, and a black-robed man with an unnaturally white face appears]
Who are you?
Death
I am Death.
Block
Have you come for me?
Death
I have walked at your side for a long time now.
Block
That I know.
Death
Are you prepared?
Block
My body is afraid, but I am not.
Block
[Death approaches Block]
Wait a moment.
Death
You all say that. But I give no respite.
Block
You play chess, do you not?
Death
How do you know that?
Block
I've seen it in paintings, heard it in the songs.
Death
I really am a rather skilful chess player.
Block
Even so, you can't be more skilful than me.
Death
Why do you want to play chess with me?
Block
That is my business.
Death
You are right about that.
Block
My condition is that I may live as long as I resist you. If I checkmate you, you set me free.
Block
[to decide who begins, Block hides a white and black piece in each hand, Death chooses the hand that has the black piece]
Black for you!
Death
It becomes me well.
Block
[Block's squire, Jöns, returns from asking directions of a man who turns out to be long dead]
Did he show you the way?
Jöns
Not exactly.
Block
What did he say?
Jöns
Nothing really.
Block
Was he mute?
Jöns
No, milord. He was most eloquent.
Block
Indeed.
Jöns
Yes, eloquent. But the speech he held was gloomy. One has to say that.
Block
[Block goes to confess at a confessional alcove in a church]
I want to confess as best I can, but my heart is empty, and the emptiness a mirror facing me. I see myself and am filled with loathing and horror. My indifference to men has shut me out from their company. I live now in a world of ghosts, a prisoner of my dreams and fantasies.
P Priest
Yet you do not want to die.
Block
Yes, I do.
Priest/Death
[as Block looks away, we see now that the "priest" is actually Death]
What are you waiting for?
Block
I want knowledge.
Priest/Death
You want guarantees.
Block
Call it what you will.
Block
[Block kneels as if praying to the figure of Jesus]
Is it so awfully unthinkable to conceive of God with one's senses? Why should He conceal Himself in a fog of half-spoken promises and unseen miracles? How are we to believe the believers when we don't believe ourselves? What will become of us who want to believe but cannot? And what of those who neither will nor can believe? Why can I not kill God within me? Why does He go on living within me in a painful, humiliating way, though I curse Him and want to tear Him out of my heart? Why does He remain a treacherous reality of which I cannot rid myself? Do you hear me?
Priest/Death
I hear you.
Block
[Block turns to kneel before the priest behind the confessional screen]
I want knowledge. Not belief. Not supposition. But knowledge. I want God to reach out to me, unveil His face, speak to me.
Priest/Death
But He is silent.
Block
I cry to Him in the darkness, but sometimes it is as if there is no one there.
Priest/Death
Perhaps there is no one there.
Block
Then life is a senseless horror. No man can live with Death before his eyes and the knowledge that all is nothing.
Priest/Death
Most people reflect neither upon Death nor nothingness.
Block
Yet they must one day stand at the last shore of life and look into the Darkness.
Priest/Death
Yes, that day.
Block
[laughs bitterly]
I see what you mean. We must make an idol of our fear, and that idol we shall call God.
Priest/Death
You are uneasy.
Block
Death visited me this morning. We are playing chess. This respite enables me to perform a vital errand.
Priest/Death
What errand?
Block
My whole life has been coming and going and talking without point or consequence. It has been nothing. I say it without bitterness or self-reproach, for I know that almost all men's lives are made up just like that. But I want to use my respite for one meaningful deed.
Priest/Death
Ah. So this is why you play chess with Death.
Block
He is a dangerous and skillful tactician, [smiling] but I have not yet lost one piece.
Priest/Death
How will you outwit Death?
Block
[smiling]
I am playing a a combination of bishop and knight that he has not yet detected. On my next move, I'll shatter his flank.
Death
[the "priest" turns to face Block through the screen]
I shall remember that.
Block
[Block stands up, startled]
You are a traitor and you have tricked me! But we shall meet again, and I'll find a way out.
Death
We shall meet at the inn and continue our game.
Block
[Block is talking with Mia, the troupe's actress, as she plays with her infant son Mikael]
Is Mikael going to be an acrobat?
Mia
Jof wants him to be.
Block
But not you?
Mia
No. [smiling] Perhaps he will be a knight!
Block
That's not such fun, either.
Mia
No, you don't look happy.
Block
No.
Mia
Are you tired?
Block
Yes.
Mia
Why?
Block
I'm in boring company.
Mia
You mean your squire?
Block
No, not him.
Mia
Who, then?
Block
Myself.
Jof
[Block and Jöns are treated to a meal by Jof and Mia]
I've written a song about the spring! Would you like to hear it?
Mia
[Jof gets up to fetch his instrument, but Mia stops him]
Our guest may not care for your songs.
Jöns
Oh, yes. I write songs myself.
Jof
You see!
Jöns
There's one about an enormous fish which you haven't heard.
Jöns
[Block clears his throat]
And you're not going to hear it, either.
. . .
Block
[as Block broods, Mia offers him a bowl of wild strawberries]
We worry about so much.
Mia
It's better to be two.
. . .
Block
To believe is to suffer. It is like loving someone in the dark who never answers.
. . .
Block
I shall remember this hour of peace: the strawberries, the bowl of milk, your faces in the dusk. Mikael asleep, Jof with his lute. I shall remember our words, and shall bear this memory between my hands as carefully as a bowl of fresh milk.
Block
[he drinks from the bowl]
And this will be a sign, and a great content.
Block
[as soldiers prepare a scaffold for an accused witch, Block talks with the pale, thin girl]
They say you've had commerce with the devil.
Block
Not out of curiosity, but for very personal reasons. I, too, want to meet him.
Block
I want to ask him about God. He must know, he if anyone.
W Witch
You can see him any time you want.
Block
How?
W Witch
You must do as I say. Look into my eyes.
W Witch
[Block does so]
Well, what do you see? Do you see him?
Block
I see a stiff terror in your eyes. Nothing else.
W Witch
No one? Nothing? No one?
Block
No.
W Witch
Is he not standing behind your back either?
Block
[Block quickly turns, but sees nothing]
No. There is nothing there.
W Witch
But he is with me everywhere. If I stretch out my hand, I feel him. He is with me even now. The fire won't hurt me.
Block
Has he said so?
Block
Has he said so?!
W Witch
I know it! I know it! You must see him somewhere, you must! The priests had no difficulty seeing him, nor the soldiers either. They are so afraid of him that they dare not even touch me.
Block
[Block advances on the soldiers working on the scaffold]
Why have you broken her hands?
Block
Who?
S Soldier
Ask the monk there.
Block
[Block turns to address the monk]
What have you done to the girl?
Death
[the monk turns to reveal himself as Death, once again]
Will you never stop asking questions?
Block
No. I will never stop.
Death
But you get no answer.
Jöns
[the soldiers move the scaffolding into place near the fire]
Who will look after that child? The angels? God? Satan? Emptiness? No, emptiness, milord!
Block
It cannot be!
Jöns
Look at her eyes. Her poor mind is making a discovery. Emptiness!
Block
No!
Jöns
We are helpless. We see what she sees, and her terror is ours.
Block
[Death has arrived at the knight's castle]
Out of the darkness we call to thee, O Lord! Oh, God, have mercy on us! For we are small and afraid and without knowledge!
Jöns
In the darkness where you claim to be, where we all probably are, in that darkness you shall find no one to listen to your laments or to be moved by your suffering. Wipe your tears and regard yourself reflected in your own insignificance.
Block
God, you who are somewhere, who must be somewhere, have mercy on us!
Jöns
I could have given you a herb to purge your worries about eternity, but it seems to be too late. But in any case, feel, to the last instant, the immense triumph in rolling your eyes and wriggling your toes!
Jöns
I will be quiet, but under protest.
G Girl
[Jöns's housekeeping girl approaches Death, kneels, and smiles up at him]
It is finished.
