Calvary

Calvary

    Author: W. B. Yeats

    First Performance: Not known

    Published: 1921

    Genre: Drama in 1 act; blank verse and irregular verse of 3- and 4-stressed lines

    Setting: The road to Calvary, ad 30

    Cast: 6m, 3 musicians

On the way to his crucifixion, Christ encounters Lazarus, who reproaches him for denying him his death and bringing him back to life. He then meets Judas, who argues that, by betraying Jesus, he has at last proved that he has free will. Even if Christ's betrayal was preordained, Judas insists that he chose to be the betrayer. Three Roman soldiers, who will play dice for Christ's cloak, perform a dance for him as Christ hangs on the cross.

This brief poetic re-enactment of the Crucifixion forms the last of Yeats's Four Plays for Dancers, and as At the Hawk's Well, calls for masked...

[The entire page is 216 words long]

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