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CHAPTER - II
“UNHAPPY IS THE LAND THAT NEEDS A HERO” : LIFE OF GALILEO
for everybody knows that the modem world depends upon
scientists, and, if they are insistent, they must be listened to, we
have it in our power to make a good world; and, therefore with
whatever labour and risk, we must make it.
....
- Bertrand Russel, ‘The Social Responsibilities of the Scientists’
Life of Galileo is one of the most rewritten plays by Brecht. Like
Shakespeare’s Henry V and Richard III, Life of Galileo is a chronicle play which
revolves around 17th century scientist. It is the century of greatness, a century that
opens with Shakespeare and closes with Issac Newton. Brecht finds in that century, the
roots of his own philosophy of life, scientific humanism ‘of all the days’, he writes of
the day when Galileo had to decide whether to abjure Copernicus, ‘that was the one/An
age of the reason could have begun*. In the year 1938, when he completed the first
version, in the midst of darkness, Brecht was hailing the new age. Because the year
was fateful for the opening of the atomic age. The first version was intended for the
working classes, so that they can resist the fascism of Hitler. In this version, he praises
Galileo, for his writing of the book the ‘Discorsi’. However, in the English version, he
condemns him and calls the act of completing the ‘Discorsi’ as cowardice. Again in
the American version, Brecht considers the act of recantation of Galileo as ‘a original
sin’ and lays emphasis on the responsibility of the scientists. But, finally he adds that
this is his opinion. In creating the figure, Brecht had imposed upon the play and the
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character a moral issue : How did the problem of survival not also involved the
question of moral cowardice? The play is a hymn to reason and also the need to be
skeptical, to doubt. Brecht himself admits that he sacrificed to some extent his theory
of epic theatre in writing his play. Through the ‘human comedy’ of Galileo, Brecht
historicises the play in order to make the play more relevant for the contemporary
society
In the first scene of the play, Galileo demonstrates to Andrea Sarti, the son of
Galileo’s housekeeper, the model of Copemican system. Galileo predicts that soon
people will come to know the truth about the earth and the new age is going to dawn.
Mrs. Sarti does not want Galileo to fill her son’s head with unacceptable tales which
are not liked by the authorities. Galileo comes to know the discovery of telescope in
Holland through Ludovico who later becomes his student. The curator arrives and
suggests that Galileo might expect to be paid more if only he will develop something
practical.
Galileo, unveils his new invention, the telescope, in front of dignitaries. The
dignitaries are very much impressed by the new telescope and they are now prepared
to pay Galileo an additional five hundred scudi a year. Galileo explains to Sagredo
what the Milky way is really made of. Galileo promises Matti, a prosperous iron
founder that he would put him in touch with some one who will copy the design for
him.
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Galileo tells Sagredo that the earth is a star. Sagredo replies that if it is true, it
gives the lie to two thousand years of astronomy. Galileo’s fraud of inventing the
telescope has been exposed, as Venice has been flooded with telescopes from Holland.
Galileo admits his fraud. Galileo tells Sagredo that there is no God in the heaven and
that He is within ourselves or nowhere. Galileo decides to go to Florence. Sargedo
fears that Galileo’s insatiable search for truth will land him in troubles.
Galileo intends to demonstrate his telescope to Cosimo,
the prince of
Florence. Galileo soon finds that he can get on one to look through his telescope. The
philosopher says that Galileo is trying to demonstrate the impossible, for what he
claims, contradicts the writings of Aristotle.
The Lord Chamberlain says that the
prince will seek the opinion of Christopher Clavius, chief astronomer to the Papal
College in Rome.
The chief astronomer Clavius checks observations of Galileo in a hall in the
Collegium Romanum. The hall is full of prelates, monks, and scholars. None of them
believes that there can be any truth in Galileo’s claims. Clavius emerges from the
room in which he has been working and announces curtly that Galileo is right.
A conversation takes place between Galileo and Cardinal Bellarmin and
Cardinal Barberini, who is a mathematician and a powerful churchman. The tone of
the conversation changes when Bellarmin, instructing his secretaries to take down
what is said from this point on, advises Galileo that the Holy office regards his theories
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as heresy. Cardinal Inquisitor also traps Virginia and she tells him the name of her
confessor.
The Llittle Monk is convinced of the rightness of Galileo’s theories. Yet he
regards the Holy Office’s decree declaring these theories heretical a wise one. He
fears that Galileo’s truth will have far reaching consequences on the people. Galileo
tells the little monk that the present virtues in the world are bom out of misery and the
truth discovered by him is going to change the present virtues.
Galileo has been kept silent by the decree of the Holy office.
Galileo is
delighted with the news that Barberini is going to become the new pope. Galileo is
now optimistic that the new pope is a mathematician and he can understand the spirit
of science. He resumes the study of astronomy. Ludovico sees a great threat to social
structure in Galileo’s discoveries. He declares that he is not going to marry Virginia.
A street singer and his wife sing a ballad about Galileo’s investigation. The
imagery of the ballad relates Galileo’s discoveries which has lead to widespread
social upheaval. This is set against an April Fool’s procession which features a huge
figure of Galileo pointing to the Bible and shaking his head as if saying ‘No’
Galileo’s resumption of his studies in astronomy has once again led him into
difficulties with the Holy office and he is relying on Prince Cosimo de Medici for
protection. But Cosimo is willing to let Galileo be turned over to the Inquisition in
Rome
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Barberini is unwilling to persecute Galileo, before he dons the papal robes.
Cardinal Inquisitor argues that Galileo’s discoveries are a great threat to Church and
society. The Pope accepts the Inquisitor’s argument and orders that Galileo is to be
frightened into recantation, by showing instruments of torture.
Andrea, Federzoni, the Little Monk, and Virginia are awaiting to learn if
Galileo will recant
Andrea is sure he will not recant
Virginia prays that he will.
Galileo recants and all the others, except Virginia, is embittered.
Andrea berates
Galileo for his cowardice.
Galileo remains a prisoner of the Inquisition. He is now almost blind. He is
watched over by Virginia and an officer of the Inquisition. But he is surreptitiously
works on his book, The ‘Discorsi’. Andrea comes to see Galileo and blames him that
there is no advances in science, since his recantation
Galileo surprises Andrea, by
handing over the manuscript of The Discorsi and asks him to smuggle the copy out of
the country. Galileo does not accept Andrea’s commendations. He regards himself as
a traitor for the cause of science. The play ends with a hope that the new age is on the
threshold of the world.
II
There is a dialectical relationship between scene I and scene 8. Galileo is a
very good teacher enchants Andrea, the son of a house keeper, with his description of
the birth of a new age in which the man will emerge out of Ptolemic age. Galileo says:
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.... For the old age is past and this is a new age. During the last
hundred years as though men were expecting some thing... Every
day something new is discovered. Every centenarians let the
youngster shout the latest novelty into their ears. Already much
has been discovered, but more still to be found out,. And so there
are always new things for new generations to do.... The most
solemn truths are being tapped on the shoulders; what was never
doubted is now in doubt. The heavens it has turned are empty.
And there is a gale of laughter over that. I predict that in our life
time astronomy will be talked about in the market place. Even the
fishwives will go to school..... overnight the universe has lost its
centre, and by morning it has countless ones : (2-3)1
These lines clearly vindicate the Renaissance spirit. Galileo foresees the role
and the impact of science on the society in the future.
Galileo predicts that some
people will realise that contrary to Ptolemic system, it is the earth that revolves round
the sun. He demonstrates his meaning by having the wash stand at which he was
washing himself represent the sun.
He then moves the chair in which Andrea sits to
represent the earth. By this means he demonstrates to Andrea that it is really the
movement of the earth that makes it seem to us as though the sun were moving.
Galileo’s demonstration of the earth revolution to Andrea, through the example of the
household furnishings, suggests his ability to show whatever at hand.
Charles R.
Lyons observes : ‘The actual presence of the astronomical model, a construction of the
ptolemic conception of the earth centred universe, functions symbolically and
realistically in the first scene of Galileo’.2
Brecht makes no attempt to romancitise
Galileo’s character or make him
martyr of science. Galileo is portrayed as a great man with many weaknesses. He is
greedy for the satisfaction of both his body and his mind. Brecht illustrates this in the
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very first scene of the play when Galileo says : “Put the milk on the table do not close
any of my books.”2 The reference to food and eating occurs intermittently in the play.
Galileo is portrayed as an ordinary human being with human needs and weaknesses.
The idealist in him co-exists with his weaker self.
comfortable life.
He is fond of good food and
Galileo says to Sagrdo. “I despise people whose brains are not
capable of filling their bellies.” (17)
J. L. Styan rightly observes :
He is the sensualist when we first see him stripped to the waist as
he enjoys his wash in cool water; it gives him pleasure to have his
back rubbed. He enjoys drinking his milk as well as his wine. As
an old man he is still the glutton who greedily consumes a goose,
that greasiest of birds.3
Galileo is more concerned with the financial aspect of his research. In a class
society without financial support from the state it is really an uphill task for any
scientist to carry on the research. Even though Galileo says that : A new era has
dawned, a great age in which it is a joy to be alive”(5) Sionara Sard, the mother of
Andrea, contradicts the statement when she says : Well ! I hope we shall be able to
pay the milk man in the new age.(6) The remarks by her indicates that whatever
changes Galileo is envisaging, it is not easy to alter the lives of the common people.
Moreover, she is not happy with Galileo’s teaching to her son. She, as a woman, is
afraid of the Church.
The economic compulsions forces Galileo to accept Ludovico Marsili, the son
of a rich land lord, as his student. Ludovico is compelled to learn science. He says :
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“My mother thinks that a little science is necessary. All the world takes a drop of
science with their wine now-a-days you know.” (8)
These lines illustrate the impact of science on the society in the 17th century
Italy. A new culture had been created in the society, which has become fashionable for
the people like Ludovico to learn science, even though he is against science.
His
antipathy to science is revealed when he says to Galileo :
You will have to have patience with me. Particularly in science
everything is different from what plain commonsense tells. One
has take for example that funny tube they are selling in
Amsterdam. I examined it closely. 1 hear that one enlarges and
the other diminishes. Any sensible person would think that they
would cancel each other out. Wrong. One sees everything five
times as large through the thing. That is your science for you (8)
These lines indicates not only Ludovico’s opposition to science, but also the
hold of the church on him. He is a mediocre student and refuses to understand the
importance of science in the society.
In a class-ridden society, the ideology of the ruling class always dominates.
Scientists cannot pursue research without the support of the ruling classes. Ruling
classes decide what kind of research should be carried out by the scientists. They
always want that the scientists should conduct research to serve their ends. They are
not interested in ‘pure sciences’. This thinking one can clearly see in the words of the
Curator, who comes to see Galileo and announces that the salary of Galileo cannot be
enhanced. He says:
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I have called respecting your application for an increase in the
salary to a thousand scudi. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend
this to the University. You know that at present time the
mathematical faculty is not attraction at a University.
Mathematics is a profitless art, so to speak. Not that the Republic
does not esteem it most highly. It is not as necessary as
philosophy, not as useful as theology, but it affords its devotes
such endless pleasure. (10)
The Curator is the typical product of a highly commercialised society, where
people and things are judged by their market value. He can be a representative of the
capitalists. His respect for Galileo is based not on the scientific work in fundamental
physics or mathematics, but on the practical inventions which have proved to be a
financial success. He does not attach much importance to Galileo’s fame because it
does not bring rich students to the university to learn mathematics.
Brecht brings out the contradiction in the Curator’s words. The curator says
that in Venice no one need be afraid of the laws of Inquisition. Any body can carry
out research without any restrictions from the church. But when Galileo draws his
attention to the burning of Bruno, then the Curator says :
Not because he spread the teachings of Copernicus, which are
more over false, but because he was not a Venetian and also had
no appointment here. So you can leave out of your argument this
man who burnt at the stake. By the way, for all our freedom you
would well advised not to utter so loudly a name on which the
church has laid its anathema. Not even here, Signor Galileo; Not
even here. (11)
Galileo is disturbed to discover that Andrea has spoken of his theory to Mrs.
Sarti.
He does not want his beliefs to come to the notice of the authorities.
But
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Andrea questions Galileo as to why he should not speak the truth. Galileo replies that
truth, especially scientific truth, is forbidden by the church.
Because science has
always been in conflict with the church.
Andrea’s intellectual curiosity suggests the role he will play in Galileo’s life.
Galileo simplifies scientific truths so that little Andrea can understand them.
In a
world surrounded by disbelief and fear of authorities, Galileo finds a faithful supporter
in Andrea. Andrea even mortgages his coat to buy lenses for Galileo. He makes his
ambitions very clear when he says : “I should like to be a physicist too, Sinor Galileo.”
(6)
He considers Galileo a ‘hero’ and tries to imitate him in his attitudes and his
talk. Emst Schumacher observes :
The enthusiasm of the adult Galileo is repeated in the boy
Andrea’s passionate adherence to the new cause. Galileo’s genius
is reflected in the young initiates intellectual maturation. Andrea’s
character, however, is an alternative to Galileo rather than simply
alternating with it.4
Galileo is inquisitive, intelligent, shrewd and capable of cheating. He has no
qualms in claiming the invention of Telescope even though it is not his invention. He
comes to know about the telescope from Ludovico Marsili. He persuades unsuspecting
citizens of the Republic of Venice that the telescope is his own invention. As a reward
for his inventiveness, they are prepared to pay him an additional five hundred scudi a
year. The double pressure of poverty and the church forces Galileo to sell telescope to
Venetians. Galileo declares indignantly.
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I despise people whose brains are incapable of filling their stomachs (17).
In the beginning of he second scene Brecht says:
No one’s virtue is complete
Great Galileo likes to eat
you will not resent, we hope
the truth about his Telescope.(lS)
As Walter Weideli points out:
Poverty paralizes him. To escape from it, he perpetrates a fraud
in passing himself off as the inventor of telescope. It is true that
he makes up for it immediately by discovering an unsuspected use
for this stolen instrument. Thus, at the same time he is yielding to
social pressure. Galileo is liberating himself from it. We shall say
then, as does Brecht that, his relation to the world is just.5
In the capitalist society knowledge becomes a commodity.
The Capitalist
wants to make use of knowledge to serve their ends. When Galileo presents telescope
to Venetian, they are excited, not because it brings in a revolution in the science but
because it can be used in the war. This is made clear when the curator says : “And has
it occurred to you that in war time by means of this instrument we shall be able to
distinguish the build and number of an enemy’s ships a full two hours earlier than he
can descry ours,
so that we, knowing his strength can decide whether to pursue in
order to give battle or to fly?” (16)
Brecht seems to be warning that scientific knowledge is double- edged. He
predicts how the capitalist would make use of the knowledge of science for destructive
purposes.
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Galileo produces instruments for the merchants in Venice, for the market, his
for use in war later, and for the authorities of the church. Despite his contempt for
money- minded Venetians, he sells his knowledge to them and pleases them. The
scientist in him is excited not by financial gain but by the amazing phenomenon that he
observes through the telescope.
Galileo’s fraud is exposed, as Venice is flooded with telescope from Holland.
The curator becomes furious when he learns the truth about the telescope because he
has been cheated in a business transaction. Galileo admits his deception to Sagredo,
but pleads that he needed money. What he really needs, indeed, is enough money to
support five years of uninterrupted research. Galileo says :
How can I work with a bailiff in the room? Virginia will certainly
be needing a dowry soon. She is not intelligent. And then, I like
to buy books not only about physics and I like to eat decently. It is
when I am eating I get most inspiration. (22)
Galileo gets all the proof he needs to prove Copernicus right.
He declares to Sagredo:
Today is the tenth of January, sixteen hundred and ten. Man kind
will write in its journal Heaven abolished (19)
When Sagredo asks Galileo, “Where is God”? (24) Galileo replies that “God is
within ourselves or nowhere”? (24)
Galileo is too idealistic and too naive in his expectations when he says:
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I believe in mankind, and that means I believe in its
commonsense. Without that belief I should not have strength to
get up from my bed in the morning. (24)
Galileo pins high hops on the human’s capacity to think rationally. Because he
believes that it is difficult to avoid the temptation from thinking. He says:
“Thinking is one of the greatest pleasures of the human race” (25)
Gunter Rohrmoser points out as :
For Brecht, the change in the comprehension of truth it self comes
with the new method and its application, represents the newly
discovered possibility of changing the sociological, historical
world by means of revolutionary intervention 6
Galileo in his excitement thinks that his telescope can convince every body
including the church, of the truth but,
Sagredo with his worldly wisdom, warns
Galileo against the consequences of such dangerous discoveries. As Charles R. Lyons
puts it:
Galileo’s relative truth is opposed to the absolute dogma of the
Church, a dogma which significantly is not maintained by
Christian conviction but rather by the capitalistic aristocracy
which would collapse if dogma lost its authority 7
Galileo decides to leave Venice and seek royal patronage in Florence. He does
it for two reasons. He wants the luxuries of life, the flesh pots and the leisure to pursue
his experiments. J.L. Styan says
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He goes to Florence to make some money to fill his belly and yet
while he is there he courageously defies the plague. (7)
In Venice, he is free from inquisition but he does not find time to do research.
So he works right into the hands of monks and princes.
In the beginning a large
number of gentlemen and ladies of Cosimo di Medici’s court, including a large number
of scholars and the nine year old prince Cosimo himself, who is looked after by the
Lord Chamberlin, visits Galileo’s house. But the courtiers show a lot of indifference
to Galileo’s findings.
Galileo does not feel threatened by the rejection of the Danish scientist’s
theories by the church, for Copernicus needed evidence. Men have merely to believe
what they see. Even when the advisers of the child duke Cosimo di Medici forbid him
to look through the telescope, Galileo says that does not recognise the none is so blind
as those who will not see. The philosopher also says that he does not believe Galileo’s
finding if it contradicts Aristotle’s work, who wrote two thousand years ago without
telescope. Then Galileo says : “Truth is the child of the time, not of authority” (38).
This line clearly indicates the courtier’s reverence for authority.
Suvin rightly points out.
From the scene where Galileo repeatedly begs the court pseudo
scientists to look through the telescope, while they will trust their
eyes only when reading Aristotle, an impression may arrive that
correct observing through optical instruments is in this play
opposed to a wrong world view arrived at through books.8
As Darko
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There is an outbreak of plague in Florence The grand Duke of Florence sends
a carriage to Galileo and his household to get away before it is too late. Galileo sends
off his daughter, with Sarti and Andrea, but refuses to leave saying that he cannot
afford to lose his research notes. Andrea manages to jump out of the carriage and
walks back to stay with his teacher. As Ruby Cohen points out.
Galileo’s initial refusal to admit his dangerous position is
paralleled by his initial courage in another dangerous position, the
plague scene shows Galileo risking death in order not to interrupt
his experiments. 9
In the Collegium Romanum, prelates, monks and scholars, none of them
believe in the teachings of Galileo. They firmly believe that earth is the centre of all
the things and man is the centre of the earth. They allege that Galileo deprives man of
the exalted position granted by the God. But Clavius, the chief Astronomer to the
papal college, declares that Galileo is right. This is one of the greatest triumphs of
Galileo’s life and in the history of science.
Clavius is forced to confirm his
observations. As Wolfgang Sohlich rightly observes:
The court intellectuals refuse the evidence of the senses, because
they have a stake in reproducing the hierarchical representational
structures of feudal society and theological authority. 0
While Galileo is in Rome, he is invited to a ball at cardinal Beilarmini’s house,
only to warned him against teaching the Copemican system. He attends the ball with
his daughter, Virginia, and her betrothed, Ludovico Marsili. From the moment they
enter the house, they are watched by the two clerks sitting in a comer playing the
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chess. He goes upto them and advises them to give up the old method of playing
chess.
Galileo says : “How can you still play that old fashioned chess? Narrow,
Nowadays people play with the important pieces moving all over the board. The rook
like that and the Bishop like that and the queen here and there. That gives room and
you can lay your plans.” (48)
The new style of chess was actually introduced as early as the middle of the
15th century. But Brecht seems to have put it forward to the beginning of the 17th, so
that the bolder movements could symbolise the larger, freer movements of the
Copemican system.
Galileio is unaware of the fact that they have been installed there to spy on him.
In the mean time him is joined by the two cardinals, Bellarmin and Barberini. There
follows a conversation in riddles between Galileo and Barberini. Barberini tries to
tempt him with pleasures of Rome, if he can get along with the church. Bellarmin
quotes the parable of the Roman she- wolfs children:
Two little boys, the story goes, received milk and shelter form a
she-wolf. From that hour on, all children have had to pay for the
she-wolf s milk. But in return the she-wolf provides all sorts of
pleasures, heavenly and earthly, ranging from conversation with
my learned friend Bellarmin to the company of three or four ladies
of international reputation. May I display them to you. (49)
But Galileo does not seem to be attracted by these. Then Barberini says:
Don’t throw out the baby with the bath-water, friend Galileo we
don’t do either, we need you, more than you need us. (49)
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As Darko Suvin rightly observes :
Galileo cannot save both body and soul, he is being forced to
choose. Barberini told him so, rightly if cynically, in the ball
room ante-chamber scene, which is introduced by the chorus as
winning and dining him, although we all see is food for the brain
being perverted. It is the parable of he Roman she wolf s children.
Opposed to this upper class parable is Galileo’s desire to enjoy
the flesh pots and the science.11
Bellarmin announces the decision of the church to ban the Copernicus
teachings. Galileo is shocked by his decision, as it comes soon after his triumph at the
Collegium Romanum. But the church does not consider these details. There is a good
deal of irony in Bellarmin’s words when he says:
It is well assured. Signor Galileo; And that in conformity with the
church view that we cannot know, but we may research. You are
at liberty to expound even this teaching through mathematical
hypothesis. (50)
In other words, Galileo may go on working if he agrees to confirm with
Church, what is true in physics should not be proved practically.
This robs a
physicist’s work of its practical meaning, but he must either agree or work no more.
Brecht depicts the church not as a religious institution but as an institution of
authority. Bellarmin says : “Science is the legitimate and dearly beloved daughter of
the church.
Signor Galileo.
Not one of us seriously believe that you desire to
undermine the authority of the church .” (50)
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In his notes on the play, Brecht tells that the church functions as an authority,
because it opposes free research and acts as final arbitrar in the scientific matters. It
acts as a secular authority since it will become an arbitrator in political maters. Brecht
wants that the casting of the church must be done realistically and the dignitaries of the
church should resemble present day bankers and senators. The main conflict in the
play is not theological but political. Gunter Rohrmoser points out:
Brecht views the process from the end backwards from the atomic
bomb form the transformation of liberation into destruction. The
reason with which representatives of the church opposed the
teachers of the new truth become more valid for him.12
One of the most dialectical characters in the play is the Little Monk and Brecht
presents the human comedy through this character. He is a student of mathematics and
he is exceptionally sensitive. He is neither obstinate nor hypocritical like other priests
and scholars in the play. He has seen the satellite of Jupiter through the telescope and
cannot help accepting the truth of its existence. He has also heard about the decree of
forbidding Galileo from speaking this truth. He comes to Galileo to make clear of his
apprehensions. He is tom between the two conflicting views of he world, faith and
reason.
The Monk is a son of poor peasants. They can understand the cultivation of
olive trees and not much else. They have a simple view of faith and simple view of the
universe. They have grown old working hard and going hungry. But, the church tells
them that they are in the centre of the universe and the eye of the God rests upon them.
This gives them strength to go on. They hope to receive the reward for their miseries
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at lest after their death. He knows how miserable life is for them, but being a religious
man, he has profound faith in the wisdom of the church. He tries to accept the misery
of his people as a test of their strength. But the Little Monk sees a logic in Galileo’s
words. When Galileo says : Virtues are not linked with misery, my friend. If your
people wee prosperous and happy, they could develop the virtues derived of prosperity
and happiness.(56)
Galileo argues that the scientific inquiry can bring a new world, one in which
men will not be limited to humble virtues born of misery but will realise the new
possibilities appropriate to the new world. He explains how the church is cheating
these poor people by hiding truth about their condition. According to him the church
is afraid of losing authority. He sees in their silence baseness rather than goodness of
soul. He wants these people to open their eyes and see how they are being exploited.
He compared them to oyster which die in the process of making pearls for others to
use. He wants these poor peasants to get angry and rebel and not to accept everything
unquestionable. Galileo insists that truth, the kind of truth he has discovered, cannot
make its way alone. Some body must hasten it. He has passion for truth, which he
wants to pursue in his own way. He says:
.... Sometimes I think I will have myself shut in a dungeon then
fathom under the ground where no light penetrates. If I could
thereby discover what it is light. And the worst is that what I
know I must repeat. Like a lover, like a drunkard, like a traitor. It
is nothing but a sin and leads to disaster ... (58)
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As Walter Weideli observes:
Here we touch the heart of Brechtian tragedy, Man knows that his
curiosity is accursed. And yet this demoniacal instinct for truth is
so essential to him that he must obey it, even if he may die for it.13
When Galileo opens his eyes to the hypocrisy of the church, the Little Monk
becomes the disciple of Galileo,
He goes back to the church, disillusioned after
Galileo’s recantation. Ernst Schumacher rightly puts it :
Little monk cannot acknowledge the new knowledge because the
consequences will be terrible for the simple people whose misery
he is acquainted with and who in his opinion so as to endure their
misery need faith in a divine providence underlying the social
order. His confusion is great because the contradiction is great.
The chasm between ideology and reality will deepen and widens
Appealed, called upon, awaken, the Little Monk will bring about
the victory of reason. Yet at the end of the play, abandons
research and rests in peace in the church. 14
The Inquisition has forbidden work by Galileo on the Copemican theory.
Galileo gives up the subject and is works on the floating bodies. Muscius, one time
student of Galileo but now on the side of the church, comes to meet Galileo and shows
him some proof against the Copemican system. Galileo tells him that even the plague
does not deter him from doing research. When Muscius replies that the plague is not
the worst thing. Galileo makes on ironic comment.
I say to you; he who does not know the truth is merely an idiot But
he who knows it and calls it a lie is a criminal. (59)
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There is a dramatic irony in the above lines. Galileo himself becomes criminal
in the eyes of the people when he recants. Perhaps Brecht foresees the seeds of his
recantation.
Again, there is a reference to food in the eighth scene for not less than five
times. Galileo gets the news that Barberini is going to be the next new pope. And he
wishes to resume research on the sun spots. He gets the news from Ludovico. The
conversation that takes place between the two relating to food is quite interesting:
Galileo: I admire this wine, Ludovico, What do you think of it.
Ludovico: It is good,
Galileo: I know the wine yard. The slope is steep and stony, the grapes
almost blue. I love its wine.
Ludovico: Yes, Signor
Galileo: It has little shadows in it. And it is almost sweet, but one must not
forget the almost. Andrea, clear that stuff away the ice, the pail
and the needle. I enjoy the ... of the flesh. 1 have no patience
with cowardly fools who call them little weakness. I say
enjoyment is an accomplishment (65)
The observation of Wolfgang Sohlich in this regard is worth mentioning :
There is a correlation between his savouring of the wine and
anticipated pleasure in getting with his research on sun spots.
There is also significant analogy between his assault on
representation which make room for the unique and the
heterogeneous and his refined appreciation of the uniqueness of
the wine and the terrain of the wine yard. But such intimate
familiarity with wine cultures presupposes an apprenticeship, and
the acquisition of the cultivated palate. 15
For Brecht, the church is an instrument of domination for moneyed aristocracy.
This can be seen in the character of Ludovico, who had been reassured by Galileo’s
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eight years of silence, is now disillusioned when he comes to know that Galileo has
once again started research on the sun spots. As a land owner, he banks on the support
of the church to keep his peasants in their places. Like all the landed aristocracy, he
firmly believes that it is his supervision and hard work that produce things on the land,
not the labour of the peasants. He has no love for poor peasants. He says that the
peasants are stupid animals and they deserve to be treated like animals.
He is
confident that the peasants are so animal like that they cannot understand what Galileo
is talking about. He says:
Their work in the fields is too arduous. Yet it could disturb them
to learn that frivolous attacks on the sacred doctrine of the Church
now go unpunished. Do not entirely forget that these unfortunates
in their animal like condition, get every thing confused. They
really are animals you can scarcely conceive it. At the rumour
there are apple trees bearing pears they will run away from the
fields to gossip about it. (68)
He does not see anything shameful in having a peasant beaten, but his sense of
honour is out raged by Galileo’s theft of some one else’s discovery.
The frequent
reference to his mother shows that all his actions are dictated by feudal traditions.
In a class society there is a contradiction between those who produce and those
who consume. Producers are alienated from their production. The consumers are not
aware, not interested to know, how food is produced. Galileo rightly points out the
alienation:
Those who see only the bread on the table do not want to know it
is baked; that would rather thank God above than the baker. But
those who make the bread will understand that nothing moves
which is not moved. (68 - 69)
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To put it in the words of Wolfgang Sohlich:
Galileo knows that it takes time and effort to produce these goods,
and they contain not only productive labour but surplus labour.
The peasants, who cultivate the vineyards and olive green,
sacrifice a good deal of their labour and time for the profits of the
feudal landlords. Galileo, the sensualist telescopes the hard time
of labour and surplus labour into the utopian moments of the body
pleasure. 16
Ludovico abides by the values of the church and he is confident that the pope
will never disregard the feelings of people like him. He supports the church because it
supports the existing social order which keeps on top, all people like Ludovico who
does not do any hard work but, enjoy the comforts of life. Small wonder, Ludovico
sees in Galileo an enemy of his class, because his discoveries question the existing
social order. As Ernst Schumacher observes:
But although Ludovico in this sense embodies fore thought,
Galileo incarnates after thought.
And that makes all the
difference.
Galileo may speculate correctly, but Ludovico
calculates correctly. Galileo can act cold but not cold. Ludovico,
however can be cool and turn icy. He is able to remain objective,
while Galileo is an object lesson, a cause. Ludovico profile is
sharply hewn because it is so impersonal. Galileo carries out
function, but Ludovico is functionalised. 17
Ludocivo does not want to incur the displeasure of the church. By marrying
Virginia, the daughter of Galileo.
He does want not to propose marriage until
Galileo’s silence on the forbidden subject is made clear.
87
Galileo’s teachings pose a great threat to the divine order of things. He proves
with the telescope that there is no Heaven and that the earth is the centre of the
universe. It would not have been bad for the church if he has said it in Latin, the
language of knowledge of the period. The few, who could have understood it would
certainly have rejected it as a nonsense.
But, Galileo says is in the language of
peasants and workers and the subject of astronomy becomes a popular subject. He
knows that in a class society language is also an instrument of domination and the
knowledge is presented in the form of mystery. It is discussed even in the market
place. People start drawing other own conclusions from them. They realise for the
first time that the Holy Fathers too can make mistakes and that there can be different
order on earth as well. This becomes the theme of the ballad singer at the carnival
scene. The ballad singer sings:
When the Almighty ordered his great Creation
He told the sun that it at his command
Must circle round the earth for illumination
Just like a little maiden, lamp in hand
For it was his desire each thing inferior
Should henceforth circle round its superior
And things began to turn for all their worth
The lesser once around the greater
And round the earlier the later,
As it is in Heaven, so on earth
And round the cardinals, so on earth
And round the cardinals, revolve the bishops
And round the bishops revolve the secretaries
And round the secretaries revolve the magistrates,
And round the Craftsman revolve craftsmen
And round the Magistrates revolve the servants,
And round the servants revolve the dogs, chickens and the
Beggars
That good people, is the Great Order. (90)
88
When Galileo questions the order of planets in the sky it is this Great order he
disturbs. The ballad singer continues.
For now the Creatio Dei
Shall turn the opposite way
Now the mistress must obey
And turn around the maid. (70)
The content of the ballad indicates that Galileo’s discoveries will lead to the
material and spiritual emancipation of the oppressed to a revolutionary twists, in
Brecht’s own phrase. The ballad also hails Galileo as the Bible Killer. Galileo himself
has never thought so, but the uneducated populace has twisted his findings. As Harold
Clurman points out:
The scene in which Galileo is hailed as a Bible Killer, the play
shows the distortion of every idea by ordinary folk who seize on
its most vulgar aspect. Brecht regards skepticism since it counsels
caution and therefore balance as a key to wisdom. His play
therefore warns us that any new idea isolated from the broadest
human concerns involves us in a new danger.18
Galileo’s teachings are put on the index of the forbidden books after their truth
has been confirmed by the astronomer-in-chief of the Collegium Romnamum.
Although Galileo is shrewd enough to understand why the church keeps his truths
away from the common man, he is also innocent enough to believe that a new Pope
can bring about a revolutionary change in the policies of the church.
The human comedy in the play is also illustrated through the character of
Cardinal Barberini, the Pope Urban VII. Galileo fails to understand that as the Head of
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the Establishment, Barberini can not take decision against the interests of the Church.
Since Barberini is himself a mathematician and a friend, Galileo hopes to resume his
research on the forbidden subjects without the fear of the inquisition.
As soon as Barberini becomes the pope, the Cardinal Inquisitor seeks pope’s
permission to deal with Galileo. But in the beginning Pope is unwilling to persecute
Galileo. But the Inquisitor wins him over slowly through persuasion and pressure.
The Inquisitor argues that it is a period of misfortune for Christianity. The number of
Catholics has been drastically reduced owing to religious wars, plague and the spread
of Protestant movement. The Pope’s stand in the Spanish Civil War and love of his art
has been misunderstood by the people and has caused a scandal. He says:
The cry; the figures crumped in; But where come their figures ?
They come from doubt as every one knows. These men doubt
everything. Are we to establish human society on doubt and no
longer on faith? (76).
The Church can reign supreme only as long as a majority of the people remains
ignorant. Creating belief in machines may lead to disbelief in miracles. This affects
social system and humble people may refuse to serve their superiors.
Throughout the argument with the Inquisition, Barberini is gradually putting on
the robes of his office as Pope. He first speaks as a man, as a student of the science,
and as an admirer of the genius of Galileo. But as he dons his robes completely, he
becomes more and more a kind of an institution, moved by an abstract sense of the
interests of the Church to permit the persecution of a man he admires and a cause he
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respects. He becomes, in a sense, a victim of his own power symbolised by the papal
robes. In giving in to the Inquisitor he sets in motion the chain of events leading to
Galileo’s recantation, and the temporary defeat of the cause of free scientific inquiry.
We may say with Charles R. Lyons that :
‘Brecht uses the structural device of the split personality more
obviously in a minor character than in the character of Galileo,
but he uses it to define the action of compromise which anticipate
Galileo’s recantation. One of the most dynamic scenes of the
play is that in which Barberini, being clothed in the robes of the
church, moves from the identify Cardinal, sympathetic to science
to the identity of Pope, opposed to the threat which science
presents to dogma and papal authority.19
The recantation scene presents another instance of Brechtian human comedy.
Pope resists the Inquisitor’s will to force Galileo into submission by threats of torture.
He says : “He gets pleasure out of more things than any man I ever met. Even his
thinking is sensual. He can never say no to an old wine or a new idea.” (75)
But when Pope robes himself fully in papal dress, he is compelled to have him
arrested. He says:
The very most that may be done is to show him the instruments (75)
So he is questioned and threatened with torture. On the day of the decision,
Galileo’s pupil, Andrea and Federzoni are at the house of Florentine ambassador in
Rome. Andrea is convinced that his master will never recant. Virginia prays that he
will Her prayer is motivated by her feelings as a daughter and partly, perhaps, by her
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hope that her father’s recantation will mean the end to her suffering. The issue of a
principle that concerns the others mean nothing to her.
A man enters and informs them that Galileo is expected to announce his
recantation at five O clock, the ringing of the bell signify the announcement. They
wait breathlessly and hopefully. At Five O clock when no bell rings they rejoice. Their
tension breaks into joy. This symbolises the victory of intellect over the violence.
Federzoni considers June 23, 1633 as the dawn of the age of the reason. He says “I
would not have wanted to go on living if he had recanted” (77) The little monk
confesses the agony of suspense and condemns his ‘little faith’ in association of
Galileo with Christ. Andrea ironically proclaims Galileo’s earlier words :
He who does not know the truth is merely an idiot, but he who
knows it and calls it a lie is a criminal.(59)
Ironically enough, while they are still rejoicing, the sound of the bell is heard
and Galileo has recanted. The ironical words of Andrea come true and now he treats
his master as criminal. All others are discouraged and embittered. The “mountain had
turned to water”(82). Andrea’s ideal master betrayed him and cries in desperation,
“He saved his big gut” (82) and it is followed by one of the most dialectical statements
of the play. Andrea says to Galileo :
Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero
Unhappy is the land that needs a hero (83).
92
As Walter Weideli rightly points out:
Galileo rejects the individualistic morality. It is precisely because
one alone is not enough. We give too much importance to the
hero. We expect too much from him. . . . We share their feeling
of revolt, but we also admire the courage and serenity of Galileo.
At this time he is gauging the limits of liberty. It is no longer the
time when the salvation of all depends on the sacrifice of one. All
“?fl
men depend on all other men to varying degrees.
Galileo is kept under house-arrest for the rest of his life. But he continues to
write his book, The ‘Discorsi’. He hood-winks the authorities through his devoutly
religious answers to their periodical questionnaires testing his repentance to be
genuine. Risking his eyesight, Galileo manages to make a copy of his book unknown
to others and hides it in the globe. He tempts Andrea to take this out of Italy. Andrea
accepts the task of smuggling out the copy of The ‘Discorsi’ and the play ends with a
suggestion that the world is at the beginning of a new age of discovery. Galileo says:
I insist that this is a new age. If it looks like a blood stained old
hag, then that’s what a new age looks like. The burst of light takes
place in the deepest darkness.(92)
Thus, his recantation is viewed as heroic in order to avoid persecution, so that
he may then surreptitiously complete the writing of the The ‘Discorsi’.
Galileo is
depicted as a humanitarian scientist willing to use his cunning to benefit society. In
fact, the play was conceived as a political anti-fascist play in historical disguise. It was
Brecht’s answer to an essay of 1934, in which he had prescribed five means for the
dissemination of truth under terror. The five means are, the courage to write it, the
wisdom to recognise it, the ability to use it as a weapon, the proper choice of effective
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recipients, the cunning to spread it.
Thus, Galileo of the earliest drafts was a
revolutionary scientist, deeply concerned with the life of the people and their miseries.
Brecht altered his views on Galileo and his historical importance under the
influence of the atomic bomb which was developed and first dropped on Hiroshima.
Brecht himself recorded in his notes that:
‘The atomic age made its debut at Hiroshima in the middle of the
work overnight the biography of the founder of the new system of
physics read differently. (145)
So, he makes textual changes to suit the occasion. The most significant occurs
where Andrea visits Galileo some years after recantation. The new Galileo denounces
himself for his failure to stand up to the moral challenge. When Andrea comes to
know that Galileo has finished writing The ‘Discorsi’, he changes his attitude towards
Galileo. Once again he sees Galileo as a hero who lied to the enemies and saved his
life only to further scientific research. But, Galileo declares,
I recanted because I was afraid of physical pain. (91)
He tells Andrea that he regards himself as a traitor. If he had taken a different
stand, an age of reason might have been inaugurated then and there. But he was too
much a coward and so the truth must still be concealed and smuggled. Galileo says :
i maintain that the only purpose of science is to ease the hardship
of human existence. If scientists, intimidated by self seeking
people in power, are content to amass knowledge for the sake of
knowledge, then science can become crippled, and your new
machines will represent nothing but new means of oppression.......
94
The gulf between you and them can one day become so great that
your cry of jubilation over some new achievement may be
answered by a universal cry of horror. (93)
His regret is that his example will have prevented the development of a kind of
Hippocratic oath for all scientists. Brecht considers Galileo’s crime as the ‘original
sin’ of the natural sciences. The atom bomb is, both as a technical and as a social
phenomenon, the classical end product of the contribution to science and his failure to
society. Raymond Williams rightly points out:
‘Brecht’s underlying argument is of course more complex. The
highest value is not knowledge, or even, in that limited sense,
truth. The Galileo’s deepest betrayal, in Brecht’s version is to cut
the links between knowledge and the education and welfare of the
people.
From this betrayal came the indifference and
irresponsibility that allowed scientific research to present
politicians and generals with an atom bomb 21
Brecht is of the opinion that Galileo’s recantation led to a serious schism
between science and human society. So, Galileo says about the new age as “ ‘This age
of our turned out to be a whore; spattered with blood. May be, new age look like
blood scattered whore” (92). So Galileo’s pre-occupation with his The Discorsi at the
end of his career must be viewed as evidence not of courage but a self-indulgent vice.
He can not help it any more than he can help savouring a well cooked goose. He could
no more refuse a new idea than a glass of good wine.
Thus, Brecht brings out the human comedy of Galileo by presenting him as
both a hero and a criminal. But he asks us neither to praise nor to condemn him. He
95
expects the audiences to respond in a dialectical manner. But, one can not, at the end,
help sharing Andrea’s comment:
With regard to your estimation of the author we were talking
about, I do not know how to answer you. But I can not believe
that your murderous analysis will be the last word. (94)
We may conclude with Calude Hill. As he puts it :
‘growing demands for a new morality of the scientist in our time
will lead to a still greater appreciation of Brecht’s magnificent Life
of Galileo.22
Nonetheless Brecht himself could not finally resolve the ambiguity of Galileo’s
character particularly, Galileo’s unhistorical self accusation.
But, the play is
masterfully crafted as an anti illusory drama for the children of the scientific age. As
far as the technique in bringing about the human comedy is concerned, he uses the play
to illustrate certain points of his theory, epic theatre with certain limitations.
The scenes in the play do not build up to a climax or a resolution. They are
broken into autonomous playlets. There are large gaps between scenes during which
we do not know what happens to Galileo and other characters.
The continuity of
scenes is also interrupted by the placards. The placards may confirm the action or
contradict it. Their interruption breaks the emotional involvement and removes any
sensational element left. Characters may be under suspense but the audience is kept
well informed. For example, in a Scene 6, a placard is put up with a title. But the
inquisition puts the Copernicus teachings on the index.
96
This is followed by rhymed summary of the scenes.
When Galileo was in Rome
A Cardinal asked him to his home
He wined and dined him as his guest
And only made one small request.
Characters are not allowed to get too melodramatic.
When Galileo comes
home after the recantation Andrea is extremely upset. He starts calling Galileo harsh
names. But, Galileo calmly says to the other disciples :
Get him a glass of water
Brecht makes no attempt to romanticize Galileo. We are never allowed to lose
sight of his weakness. Galileo says to Andrea :
Oh, I am the slave of my habits.
In addition to songs and placards, other narrative elements, like projected
documents, painted screens recalling events that take place elsewhere, are also widely
used. At the end of Scene 3, Galileo’s letter to the Duke of Florence is projected on
the stage. There is an extract from Galileo’s The Discorsi written up in front of the
curtain at the end of scene 11. This piece apparently irrelevant is used to suggest that
when a great man falls the injury caused in greater.
The narrator’s verse at the
beginning of the scene also makes it clear that the central point of the scene is not
Galileo’s recantation but its implications for the common man. The most dialectical
statement in the play reveals Brecht’s reading of the history .
97
Andrea “ Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero
Galileo : Unhappy is the land that needs hero (83)
It is the people who make history and not the action of any single individual.
The play ends not with Galileo’s remorse, but with his book. ‘The Discorsi’ crossing
the border. It is suggested at the end of the play that the new age is about to dawn.
98
REFERENCES
1.
Bertolt Brecht, “Life of Galileo” Collected plays ed. John Willet and
Ralph Manheim (London . Eyre Methuen, 1980) V.5
All further
references and notes on the play by Brecht are to this edition and the page
numbers are given parenthetically at the end of each quotation.
2.
Charles R. Lyons, Bertolt Brecht: The Despair and the polemic (London :
Southern Illinois University Press, 1968) 111
3.
J.L. Styan “Epic Theatre in Germany : Later Brecht” in his Modem
Drama in Theory and Practice. Expressionism and Epi ctheatre Vol. 3
(London Cambridge University Press, 1981) 155.
4.
Ernst Schumacher “The Dialectics of Galileo” tr by Joachium
Nengroshel, in The Drama Review (Copy right 1968. The Drama Review
reprinted by permission of MIT Press) Vol. 12 No. 2 Winter 1968 - 128.
5.
Walter Weideli. Art of Bertolt Brecht translated by Daniel Russel (New
York : New York University Press, 1963) 109.
6.
Gunter Rohrmoser Brecht’s Galileo in 20th Century views on Brecht ed.
By Peter Demetz (EngleWood Cliff Prentice Hall, 1962) 122.
7.
Charles R Lyons, Bertolt Brecht. The Despair and the polemic 112.
8
Darko Suvin, ‘Heveanly food denied’ : “Life of Galileo” in The
Cambridge Companion to Brecht ed. By Peter Thomson and Glendyr
Sacks (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994) 143.
9.
Ruby Cohn “The Hero and His People in her Currents in contemporary
Drama (Indiana Indiana University Press, 1968) 117.
10.
Wolfgang Sohlich. The Dialectics of Mimesis and Representation in
Brecht’s Life of Galileo in Theatre Journal. Vol. 45 No. 1 (1993) 52.
11
Darko Suvin, “Heavenly food denied . Life of Galileo” in The Cambridge
Campanion to Brecht 148.
12.
Gunter Rohrmoser in 20th Century views on Brecht ed.by Peter Demetz
(Engel Wood Cliff Prentice Hall, 1962) 123.
99
13.
Walter Weideli Art of Bertolt Brecht (Tr) by Daniel Russel. 112.
14.
Ernst Schumacher ‘The Dialectics of Galileo’ (Copy right 1968. The
Drama Review reprinted by permission of MIT Press) Vol. 12 No. 2
Winter 1968) 131
15.
Wolfgang Sohlich. ‘The Dialectics of Mimesis and Representation in
Brecht’s Life of Galileo’ in Theatre Journal. Vol. 45 No. 1 (1993) 61.
16.
Ibid., 62
17.
Ernst Schumacher ‘The Dialectics of Galileo’ (Copy right 1968. The
Drama Review reprinted by permission of MIT Press) Vol. 12 No. 2
Winter 1968) 132.
18.
Herold Clurman in a review of ‘Galileo in the Nation’ (Copy right 1967
The Nation Magazine, The Nation Associates Inc) Vol. 204 No. 19 May
8. (1967)603
19.
Charles R. Lyons, Bertolt Brecht: ‘The Despair and the polemic’ 113.
20.
Walter Weideli. Art of Bertolt Brecht (Tr) Danie,l Russel 110.
21.
Raymond Williams, ‘English Brecht’ in London Review of Books. July
16“ - August 5th, 1981, 19.
22.
Calude Hill, Bertolt Brecht (Boston : G K. Hall & Co., 1975) 208.