550
PARTISAN REVIEW
one of the
very
few with real Negro nobility, Othello:
" . . . my bloody thoughts with violent pace
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
'Til that a capable and wide revenge
Swallow them up."
MARIANNE:
Do you know what would happen
if
you did lynch Young
Williams? There'd be beatings and hangings and sudden death to
everybody we know.... There'd be a massacre of every Negro family
in the neighborhood.
JESSE:
(enjoying the prospect)
This whole area may
be
a place of
desolation !
MARIANNE:
You can't do that.
JESSE:
There would be reprisals and retaliations, and then retaliation
on the retaliators!
MARIANNE:
Is that what you want?
JESSE:
I'll answer you with another line of poetry from Othello: "Oh,
the pity of it," Marianne, "Oh, the pity of it!"
He picks up the telephone book and consults it.
MARIANNE:
No!
JESSE:
Let's see . .. Sam Hollis. Here's the number.
He takes up the phone.
MARIANNE:
Jesse!
JESSE:
No more arguments!
MARIANNE:
I know Sam Hollis well, Jesse ... he's a practical man.
You'll never get him to do what you want. You'll just make a fool
of yourself!
JESSE:
(condescendingly)
I think I have some importance among Ne–
groes, even down here, and some power to persuade, too. . . .
MARIANNE:
Sam Hollis will never agree to a lynching. . . .All you'll
accomplish will be to ruin my reputation.. .. I won't be able to show
my face anywhere. . . .
JESSE:
And what about me?
If
I don't do this, will I be a:ble to face
myself?
H e begins to dial the number.
MARIANNE:
Jesse Prince, you put down that phone!
(pleading)
Just
for a minute. Please. You've got to hear what I'll do if you dial that
number.
He puts down the phone. A pause.
JESSE:
I'm waiting.
MARIANNE:
If
you dial that number-I'll go back to Young Williams.
. . . He said he'd wait up all night for me to come. ...
