The Masque of the Red Death
1964
Francesca: Is there anything to fear in that room? Prospero: The uninvited have much to fear.
Prospero: God's dead! Satan killed him!
Prospero: The Red Death is laying waste to the countryside! Scarlatti: The Red Death? I beg you, Prospero, sanctuary! Prospero: This is no church!
Prospero: That cross you wear around your neck; is it only a decoration, or are you a true Christian believer? Francesca: Yes, I believe - truly. Prospero: Then I want you to remove it at once! And never to wear it within this castle again! Do you know how a falcon is trained my dear? Her eyes are sown shut. Blinded temporarily she suffers the whims of her God patiently, until her will is submerged and she learns to serve - as your God taught and blinded you with crosses.
Francesca: You had me take off my cross because it offended... Prospero: It offended no one. No - it simply appears to me to be discourteous to... to wear the symbol of a deity long dead.
Prospero: My ancestors tried to find it. And to open the door that separates us from our Creator. Francesca: But you need no doors to find God. If you believe... Prospero: Believe? If you believe you are gullible. Can you look around this world and believe in the goodness of a god who rules it? Famine, Pestilence, War, Disease and Death! They rule this world. Francesca: There is also love and life and hope. Prospero: Very little hope I assure you. No. If a god of love and life ever did exist... he is long since dead. Someone... something, rules in his place.
Prospero: But I made a pact with Satan! Man in red: He alone does not rule the universe. Prospero: No! There is no other ruler, God's dead! Man in red: Man creates his own God, his own devil, his own heaven and his own hell. This is your hell.
Man in red: Why are you afraid to die Prospero? Your soul died a long time ago.
Alfredo: You promised me entertainment, I never expected this. Have such eyes seen sin? Prospero: They will.
Alfredo: Wherever did you find her? Prospero: Pretty toy isn't she? Alfredo: I wonder... Prospero: I'm sure you do Alfredo, the same way you wonder about all the other women in my court.
(Prospero has caught her trying to escape) Francesca: Juliana betrayed us. Prospero: She betrayed ME.
(Juliana has been killed) Prospero: I beg you do not mourn for Juliana. We should celebrate. She's just married a friend of mine.
Scarlatti: Sir, at least spare my wife. I give her to you to do what you please. Prospero: I've already had that doubtful pleasure.
Prospero: How like a worm you are. Be one.
Prospero: I don't corrupt, I inform.
Prospero: The way is not easy, I know, but I will take you by the hand and lead you through the cruel light into the velvet darkness.
Francesca: Forgive them! Prospero: Forgive them? If my hound bites my hand after I have fed and caressed him, should I allow him to go undisciplined?