The Moon is Down

The townspeople move slowly and somberly through the day. In the mayoral palace, Joseph and Annie try awkwardly to move a large table into the drawing-room, where a trial is soon to be held. As they do so, they talk about Alexander Morden, the man who killed Captain Bentick in the mine. Joseph tells Annie that the trial will be for Alexander, who used to be an alderman. Annie is enraged to hear that the soldiers will most likely shoot Alex after the trial, but Joseph soothes her with rumors he has heard—like that two men escaped from the town the night before, and that people are talking about killing Mr. Corell.

Mayor Orden and Doctor Winter come into the drawing-room, dismiss Joseph and Annie, and discuss the upcoming trial. After several minutes, Molly Morden, Alex’s wife, enters and asks to speak to the mayor. She says the townspeople have been talking and that everybody believes Orden will be the one to sentence poor Alex. “It will be your words that send him out,” she says. This baffles Orden, who wonders how the citizens of his town could know his actions before even he does. “That is a great mystery,” Doctor Winter says. “That is a mystery that has disturbed rulers all over the world—how the people know. It disturbs the invaders now, I am told, how news runs through censorships, how the truth of things fights free of control.” Before Molly leaves, Orden promises her he won’t sentence Alex to death.

Just as Molly departs, Colonel Lanser arrives. He asks to speak to the mayor privately, so Doctor Winter takes his leave. Lanser opens by expressing his sorrow over the circumstances that have led to Alexander’s trial, but Orden cuts to the chase, asking why, if Colonel Lanser intended to kill the young man anyway, he didn’t simply shoot Alex in the coal mine. Lanser admits that he agrees with Orden’s point of view, but notes that punishment must be dramatized in order to discourage other potential criminals. As expected, he asks Orden to be the person to issue the death sentence, an approach he thinks will help keep order over the townspeople.

Mayor Orden insists that he isn’t qualified to sentence Alexander Morden to death, since this falls outside the purview of a mayor’s duty. He criticizes Lanser for his obsession with pretending like this is a simple matter of law-breaking, rather than a complicated war-time situation. Exasperated, Lanser asks if he can sit, and Orden says, “Why do you ask? That is another lie. You could make me stand if you wished.” Still, Lanser maintains that he respects Orden, saying, “You see, what I think, sir […] is of no importance. I might agree with you, but that would change nothing. The military, the political pattern I work in has certain tendencies and practices which are invariable.”

Lanser continues by emphasizing that he needs Orden’s help to control the situation. Finally, Orden says that if Lanser shoots the men who killed the six townspeople on the day of the invasion, then he—Orden—will sentence Alex. Of course, Lanser cannot agree to this, and thus resolves to sentence Alex himself. He looks at Orden, smiles, and says, “We have taken on a job, haven’t we?” Orden agrees, saying, “Yes, the one impossible job in the world, the one thing that can’t be done.” When Lanser asks what the mayor is referring to, Orden says, “To break man’s spirit permanently.”