Nightwood

Walking into Nora’s house one afternoon, Matthew asks her why she can’t stop writing to Robin and rest now that she knows that the world is “about nothing.” He implies that writing to Robin, who seems to have lost herself, only makes Robin’s life more bitter. Nora looks at him and he urges her to think about Jenny, who’s begun drinking heavily and is in a constant state of torment because she can’t be part of the past or copy the present. Matthew again asks Nora why she can’t rest. Nora asks him what she’s supposed to do if she can’t write, since she can’t bear to just sit and think. Exasperated, Matthew declares that Nora will end up going after Robin and that nothing can stop Nora from writing to her. Nora confirms that she won’t stop writing, nor does she consider what she’s putting Robin through by writing so much.

Nora insists that she must keep writing. Matthew accepts this but says Nora should know the worst. He reminds her of Felix and Guido, whose best hope is for Guido to die early. Matthew questions if there’s a reason for Robin and Jenny’s torment and again asks Nora why she can’t rest. He considers what his own fate will be and states that time makes everything possible and space makes anything forgivable. Matthew asks Nora again if she can’t put her pen down and rest, but then changes tack and tells her to go ahead and “lie weeping with a sword in [her] hand.” Matthew admits that he’s done something similar and knows the pain. Still, he tells Nora to think of Jenny, who can’t write anything, and Robin, who only has Nora’s pet name for her to live on. Matthew acknowledges that the memory of love carries weight.

Nora asks what she should do. Matthew tells her to make birds’ nests out of her teeth like his friend. The birds liked his friend’s nests and stopped making their own. They simply wait by her window for her to make them a new one every spring. Nora turns back to her letter and says that she once wished Robin would die in her sleep but now realizes that wouldn’t change anything. Matthew agrees, saying that death would be worse because it puts the beloved out of reach. With a sigh, Matthew says he wishes that Nora would take herself out of the situation but that she’s clearly still in it. Nora asks what will happen to her and Robin. Matthew says nothing will happen—heartache happens to everyone, but life goes on. Nora says she can only find Robin in sleep or death, but Robin’s forgotten her in both.

Matthew tells Nora that he learned a lot in his personal war and tells her to let hers do as much for her. He tells her that life doesn’t tell itself and nobody is ever great or small except in someone else’s mind. Because of this, Nora must be careful about whose minds she enters. Nora begins pacing and tells Matthew that as much as she wants and needs to talk, she can’t. Matthew tells Nora that she’s combining her pain with suffering. Matthew says that all people carry death inside of them (their skeleton), but real danger comes from the outside. Matthew says he wants to share a personal story about being destroyed.

One night, Matthew was hurrying home to bed, hoping that in the morning he wouldn’t wake with his “hands on [his] hips.” On the way he saw a prostitute and thought of the advice a priest gave him to stay simple but also to think and never hurt anyone. Matthew decided to find an empty church to think in. He found one and settled himself in a quiet corner. Looking down he “spoke to Tiny O’Toole” to make him “face the mystery.” Matthew cried out to God to explain what was wrong and started crying. Matthew told God that he knows there’s beauty in him even if he’s a mistake. He asked God which part of him was permanent—himself as a person or Tiny. Matthew kept crying and talking to God until he forgot his purpose and, putting Tiny away, left the church wondering if he’d been thoughtful or foolish.

In the present, Nora smiles and tells Matthew he’s like a child. Matthew thanks her for the compliment and tells her the story of a young boy who died of an infection while his father, a famed singer, was performing one night. Then Matthew changes the subject back to Robin, saying that she’s beautiful but he never liked her. Nora apparently doesn’t hear him but asks how she’s supposed to live her last hour for the rest of her life. Matthew tells her that even a quiet life is difficult. In agony Nora says that time isn’t long enough to understand Robin’s nights. She questions what love is and says that everyone finds everything they can’t stand in another person and then love that person anyway. Nora wonders if Robin will always regret rather than appreciate things but decides this can’t be true, because Robin gets wearied by her memory.

Nora says there’s something inside her that makes her love evil. Matthew tells Nora that her mistake was in trying to transform the unknowable (Robin) into the known. Nora explains that she wanted power but chose to start a relationship with “a girl who resembles a boy.” Matthew says that’s right and that she never has and never will love someone the way she loves Robin. Matthew explains that the love they have “for the invert, boy or girl” can be traced back to childhood romance stories. A lost girl suggests that a prince will find her, and the “pretty lad who is a girl” is both the prince and the princess and, somehow, neither of them. The “invert” reminds people of these romances and that’s why they’re so loved. Nora compares love to death and says that she loves Robin as if she were “condemned to it.”  

Matthew tells Nora that he understands her pain but, contrary to what many people think, suffering won’t purify them. Nora mentions Jenny and Matthew says suffering ruins her ability to sleep. Matthew remarks that nobody ever suffers as much as they should or loves as strongly as they say they do. Furthermore, the only way to know evil is to also know truth and good, and to be innocent is to not know one’s self. Nora says that Robin sometimes did come back (presumably for safety and to sleep) but she always left again. Matthew mentions that she must have been coming back at dawn, when night people are most frightened. Nora says that the love between her and Robin was impossible and seemed to kill itself, yet they still love each other. Matthew notes that it’s difficult to escape an entanglement. 

Nora tells Matthew she wishes he could take her mind off everything. She notes that she’s happier alone in the house she bought for her and Robin to live in. When she’s alone, she’s not tortured with watching Robin prepare to leave and then come stumbling back again. Nora asks if she was wrong to believe Robin and Matthew yes, because it made Robin’s life “wrong.” Nora says that there came a time when she no longer believed Robin, the same night she went to talk to Matthew in his room. Matthew says that all Robin had was Nora’s faith in her, and it was wrong of Nora to take it away; she should have kept that faith even though it was a myth. Nora ignores this and says that after that night she went to see Jenny herself.

Inside Jenny’s house Nora saw a doll like the one Robin gave her. That’s how Nora knew that she was in the right place. Nora came out and asked Jenny if she was Robin’s mistress and Jenny immediately confirmed it. Nora quickly realized that Jenny viewed Nora as someone who could sympathize with her, rather than a rival. Robin apparently told Jenny that there was nothing between her and Nora, though Nora cared deeply for her and Robin didn’t want to hurt her. Jenny wanted to know what to do so Nora told her there was nothing to do. As they talked Nora realized part of her hurt was because of the doll—when a woman gives another woman a doll, it’s supposed to represent the life they can’t have together. That night Nora broke up with Robin, who left immediately.

Matthew finishes Nora’s story, saying that when Robin left, Nora must have walked all over the house crying and wringing her hands, ashamed with herself for acting so theatrical. Matthew says that Nora wants to talk to him so much because he’s “the other woman that God forgot.” Matthew tells Nora that she’s both died and been resurrected for love, but always the same love. Matthew asks her if she was ever disgusted by Robin or happy to be alone. Nora says she simultaneously was and wasn’t. Her real fear was of Robin’s gentleness. Nora recalls one night when Robin got so drunk that someone called Nora to bring her home. Robin hurled insults at Nora the whole time until they got to the hotel and Nora slapped her. After that Robin calmed down and went to sleep. That night Nora wished Robin would die so she’d belong to Nora.

Nora admits that she never really understood Robin. Nora always saw Robin as a big child who needed to be saved and protected. Nora tried to save her, but she couldn’t. Nora recounts the moment she knew their relationship was over: she slapped Robin while she was asleep, and it seemed like Robin became corrupt as she woke up. Nora says she went mad seeing that—indeed, she’s been mad ever since—and begs Matthew to say something. Matthew tells Nora to stop screaming and says that because Nora is a good woman, she was the only one who could ruin her relationship with Robin. Matthew says Robin is a “wild thing caught in a woman’s skin,” completely wrapped up in herself; Robin can’t empathize with other people, and so she always believes herself innocent of any wrongdoing when she hurts other people.

Matthew asks Nora why she couldn’t be happy to not learn her lesson. Matthew advises Nora to move quietly through life and try not to learn anything because all lessons come through someone else, and that person will have the means to hurt her. By guarding her heart, Nora will be able to crawl through life without experiencing as much pain and with more of her self intact. Nora says that sometimes when Robin stayed home she would carefully watch Nora to make sure nobody wrote or came to see her—Robin, too, wanted to own Nora. Sometimes, Robin would get drunk, dress up in boy’s clothes, and raise their doll into the air like she wanted to crush it. Another time Nora came home late so Robin actually destroyed the doll. 

Nora asks Matthew if there are devils and if she is Robin’s devil for trying to comfort her. Nora describes seeing dead loved ones in her dreams, including her grandmother. Nora believes that everyone dies in someone else’s sleep, and Robin dies over and over again in Nora’s. Matthew declares that he wants his mother and Nora asks him to tell Robin to never forget that Nora loves her. Matthew tells Nora to tell Robin all this herself, or else sit in silence and stew in her own trouble. Matthew goes on to say that Nora should pray to God and refers to God as a woman because it “balances the mistake” God made when she made him. Matthew theorizes that Robin will ultimately wish Nora was locked away in a nunnery where she can be safe. As it is, Nora keeps dragging her up.

Nora tells Matthew that the women Robin had hurt come to her for comfort, which makes Nora realize what it is she’s always wanted: “secure torment.” The only better thing would be hope. Nora describes her attempts to keep Robin from going out and Robin’s resistance to her. Nora concludes that she always loved Robin for her own sake, not for Robin’s. Matthew says he’s always known this and, smiling, Nora says that Matthew always knows things that other people don’t learn until they’re dead, because Matthew was born dead. As the sun sets, Matthew asks Nora why she doesn’t rest—she’s nearly 40 and her body must be tired. Nora says she knows and begins to cry. She asks Matthew if he’s ever loved someone so much that he and his love became one. Matthew doesn’t answer.

Nora says that Robin can go wherever and do whatever she wants because she forgets. However, Nora is limited because she remembers. She tells Matthew that she used to be different, but this love is also different; it permeates her whole life and eats away at it. Matthew says that when his brother died their mother wanted to see Matthew instead of their friends because she wanted to talk to the person who remembered his brother best. Robin will turn to Nora for similar reasons—she will want Nora to build her back up. Matthew goes on to say that he was doing well in life until he met Nora and she dragged him out from under a rock. Now he finds himself surrounded by people who need comfort and asks Nora if she thinks he’s happy or if her sorrow is the only one in the world.

Matthew tells Nora that he has reasons to be miserable and points out that he doesn’t waste his energy wailing about it. Nora tells him to listen and says that Robin used to lie in bed and taunt her, saying she wanted everyone but Nora to be happy. Nora thinks Robin knew she was hurting Nora but couldn’t stop herself. For this reason, Robin simultaneously wants to be loved and to be alone. Pacing, Nora says that Robin loved her but has since forgotten. Nora believes Robin wanted darkness, but Nora got in the way. Nora talks about mentally seeking Robin out all over the world after she left, but says she was unable to find her. Nora concludes that she and Robin should’ve died in bed so they’d break down to nothing but love. Confused, Matthew grabs his hat and leaves.

Matthew goes to his favorite café and orders a drink at the bar. He’s still thinking about Nora and the others and tells the bartender that thinking makes a person sick. The people at the café watch Matthew expectantly, knowing that if he gets drunk then he’ll start talking. An ex-priest calls Matthew over for a drink. The priest asks Matthew if he really was married once and Matthew confirms that he once said he was married and vaguely hints at having slept with his brother’s wife. The priest says he wants the truth, but instead of answering Matthew launches into a drunken ramble about overfed ducks in a park. Suddenly Matthew curses the people who make him miserable by looking to him for comfort, including Nora and Jenny. Matthew says it’s all a bad story, but the world should hear its own story.

Out loud, Matthew questions why people choose to turn to him to keep their secrets. He rails against Felix for keeping so much quiet while Guido searches in vain for his mother, Robin. Other people in the bar listen while Matthew continues rambling. He says that when a person goes against their nature, they learn more about it, and the reason he talks so much is because he’s tortured by what others keep quiet. Matthew calls himself a coward for never being who he actually is long enough to understand what being himself really means. Matthew goes on about a magician doing tricks and claims that once he was called to bleed Catherine the Great. The priest asks Matthew to remember what century he lives in. Matthew angrily tells him not to interrupt, that a man with a good memory can’t do any harm.

The priest points out that women cause trouble, too. Matthew agrees, saying that’s all Jenny, Nora, and Robin have ever done. Matthew drunkenly rambles on about trying to be recognized until the priest offers to take him home because he’s clearly very drunk. Matthew waves him off and says that revenge is only for people who have loved and then asks again why everyone turns to him for comfort. The priest tries to lead Matthew away again, but Matthew becomes hysterical, asking why he’s the only one who ever understands when something is over. Speaking to nobody in particular Matthew asks if they can let him free yet, now that he’s shared his life for nothing. Matthew tries to get up but falls over, saying they’ve reached the end and there’ll be nothing “but wrath and weeping.”