The Visit

In her sedan-chair, wearing her wedding dress, Claire is in Petersens’ Barn, one of the spots where she and Ill used to meet. The Doctor and the Schoolmaster come to see her. Despite the heat and dust, she explains, she needed a quiet spot after the wedding. To their shock, she has already sent the groom away and started the divorce process. They affirm that Ill is still alive due to their “Western principles” (64), but they tell her about the debt that the townspeople have accumulated. Claire muses, “In spite of your principles?” and the Schoolmaster says, “We’re only human” (64). They plead with her to invest in the town instead of giving a million pounds as “charity” or blood money. There is a foundry and a factory, and there are valuable minerals waiting to be mined. They only need a boost. Claire explains that it would be a decent investment, but she already bought all of it and had her agents close everything down, forcing the town into poverty as revenge for them casting out a pregnant teenager. She calls to her goons to carry her back to the hotel, where Husband IX would soon arrive. The Schoolmaster begs her to help them and “let [her] feeling for humanity prevail!” She answers, “Feeling for humanity, gentlemen, is cut for the purse of an ordinary millionaire; with financial resources like mine you can afford a new world order” (67).

In the Ills’ General Store, Mrs. Ill sells cigarettes to the town butcher, who talks about Claire’s upcoming wedding. Mrs. Ill says, “Claire deserves a little happiness, after all she’s been through” (67). The butcher mentions that the reporters will be coming and puts his purchase on his store account. Louisa walks by, dressed in nice clothes. They judge her for dressing up as if she’s counting on someone killing Ill. Ill has been hiding upstairs, pacing. The butcher comments that Ill’s conscience is what’s agitating him, considering what he did to Claire. He notes that he hopes Ill won’t decide to talk to the reporters about Claire’s offer, especially since it was only “a figure of speech for unspeakable suffering” (68). He threatens that they would “have to step in” (68) for Claire’s sake, since she has suffered enough. He asks if the stairs lead up to their apartment, and she affirms that they’re the only stairs leading up. He decides that he should sit there just in case. The Schoolmaster enters and orders a drink, commenting that he’s been drinking too much. Mrs. Ill encourages him to drink anyway. They hear Ill pacing overhead. The man who was painting the welcome sign, now a real painter, enters with a canvas and warns them that reporters have been asking about the store.

The painter gives the canvas to Mrs. Ill, and she’s surprised that it’s a portrait of Ill. She decides that they can hang it over their bed. The future is uncertain, and “it’s a comfort to have a souvenir” (70) just in case. The painter gives her credit when she doesn’t have the money on hand. Two reporters enter, and townspeople gather apprehensively. To Mrs. Ill’s surprise, they ask about her husband’s relationship with Claire 45 years earlier, having learned of it from Claire’s two blind followers. In the background, one of the goons drags the two men by their ears as they swear not to tell anything else. Unaware, the reporters explain that Claire nobly renounces her claims on Mrs. Ill’s husband. One asks if her husband has any regrets about not marrying Claire. Mrs. Ill replies, “Money alone makes no one happy” (72). The Ills’ two children enter. The Schoolmaster, admitting that he’s been drinking, announces that he needs to say something about Claire’s visit to Guellen. Two townsmen rush to stop him, aided by Mrs. Ill, and the Schoolmaster accuses her of “paving the way to betray [her] own husband” (73). Then the Ills’ son and daughter pipe up, telling the Schoolmaster to be quiet. The painter smashes the painting over the Schoolmaster’s head.

During the tussle, Ill enters from upstairs. The Schoolmaster proudly tells him that he’s finally telling the truth because he’s a Humanist. Ill tells him to stop, and he protests and then does, surprised. The reporters are pleased to see Ill and want to take a photo. They insist on taking a picture of Ill selling an axe to the butcher. Once the photo is taken, one of the reporters announces that Claire has a new husband, and they hurry off to catch them. Relieved, the painter leaves, stopping to warn Ill that no one would believe him if he decided to talk anyway. The butcher is excited for a moment that he’ll be in a magazine. Then he buys something on account, noting that what Ill did to Claire was nasty. Ill reminds the butcher to return the axe, which he does. The Schoolmaster apologizes to Ill, urging him to go to the press himself. But Ill explains that he now knows that he’s wrong. It’s his fault that Claire became what she is. The Schoolmaster tells Ill that the people of Guellen will kill him, even if they don’t want to believe it themselves, because “the temptation is too great and [their] poverty is too wretched” (77). The Schoolmaster admits that he’ll help them, and he’s afraid, but someday, an old woman will come for each of them the same way. The Schoolmaster buys another bottle of liquor on account and leaves. Ill looks around at the store, which has been updated and redone, commenting that he has always dreamed about owning a store like this. Ill’s family reenters, and he notices that his daughter has a tennis racquet. She admits that she’s taken some lessons. From his window, Ill saw that his son now has a car. And there’s a fur coat in his closet, which Mrs. Ill acknowledges. All three are embarrassed, reassuring Ill that no one will actually hurt him.

Ill tells them all to get dressed in their nicest clothes, because he wants to go out for a drive in his son’s new car. They hesitate, and then they go off to get dressed. The Mayor enters and offers Ill a loaded rifle. Ill declines. The Mayor explains that there will be a town meeting in the auditorium of the Golden Apostle hotel later. Ill affirms that he will attend. They’ll be hearing Ill’s case, but in vague terms because the press will be there. The Mayor claims that they’ll find in Ill’s favor, which Ill obviously doubts, and asks if he’ll submit to their judgment. The press will know something about the endowment, but not about the terms. No one will know about Ill’s transgressions. Ill says, “I’m glad to hear an open threat” (80), and the Mayor insists that Ill is threatening all of them if he talks to the press. Ill tells the Mayor that he’ll abide by the judgment. The Mayor is glad, but he suggests without saying it that Ill should use the rifle to kill himself so a meeting won’t be necessary, “out of public spirit” (81). Ill states that he won’t fight their judgment. He asserts, “God grant you find your judgment justified. […] But I cannot spare you the task of the trial” (81). The Mayor comments that it was apparently too much to ask him to display some decency and redeem himself. Ill lights a cigarette for the Mayor and the Mayor leaves, taking the rifle.

Ill’s family returns, well-dressed, Mrs. Ill in her fur coat. His son, Karl, pulls up the car. Ill says that he worked his entire life for some property and comfort, such as this car, and now that his time is running out, he wants to see what it’s like to ride in one. They drive through town, noting the reconstruction, the chimneys and their gray smoke, the Goethe Arch, and Brahms Square. Wagner Factory and the Bockmann chimneys are active again. Children are playing. Ill tells them that he wants to go for a walk and then to the public meeting. His family decides to see a film, and Ill says goodbye. At the woods where he and Claire used to meet, he finds Claire with her latest husband, a Nobel Prize-winner. She tells her husband to stop thinking, and he reluctantly does. She comments that she’s unsettled by her husband’s desire to manage her assets, since husbands are “for display purposes” (86), not for usefulness. She tells Ill that the two blind followers were deposited in a Hong Kong opium den. Roby, one of her goons, plays the guitar—Ill’s favorite song. Ill asks about their child. The baby was a girl, whom Claire named Genevieve, although she only saw the baby once before the Salvation Army took her. Later, she received a postcard that stated that the child died of meningitis. Claire asks Ill to tell her about herself when they were young and he loved her. He does. He says that he will be sentenced and killed tonight, and his “meaningless life will end” (88). She promises to take him in his coffin to a mausoleum that is waiting in Capri. She explains that his love had died, and hers couldn’t die or live, so it “grew into an evil thing” (88). The husband returns, and Claire and Ill say goodbye. Claire leaves, and Ill stays seated on the bench.

The auditorium at the Golden Apostle Hotel files in around him. The townspeople are all there, as is the press. A radio commentator announces the meeting, which Claire won’t be attending. All the townspeople speak in vague terms to avoid revealing the true nature of their meeting. The Mayor announces that their agenda only has one item—Claire’s donation. The radio announcer commentates excitedly. The Mayor cedes the floor to the Schoolmaster. Speaking in generalities, the Schoolmaster states that Claire’s purpose is not to revive the town. She wants to transform the town’s spirit. Townspeople interject that they once perpetrated an injustice on her. The Schoolmaster continues, asking them to consider what wealth means without grace. The Mayor takes the floor, calling Ill forward. He asks Ill if he recognizes that the donation is happening because of him, and if he will honor the vote about whether to accept it. Ill agrees. No one speaks.

They vote, and everyone but Ill votes yes. The Mayor leads the citizens in a call-and-response, claiming that they didn’t do it for money but for justice and their consciences. Ill cries out, “My God!” (94). A reporter asks them to redo it all for a second take, but Ill doesn’t scream out this time. The press leaves, and the Mayor locks the door. The men line up, and Ill stops the Priest from preaching. He’s not afraid. They all converge on Ill silently. A reporter comes back in, and the Doctor pronounces that Ill, now lying on the floor, died of a heart attack, which the Mayor adds was from joy. Claire enters and uncovers his face. She says he looks like he once did, like the black panther. She orders him carried to his coffin and for her bags to be packed. They’re off to Capri. She gives the Mayor a check and exits. The town transforms slowly, becoming up-to-date and wealthy. The townspeople sing like a choir about their benefactor as Claire boards the train with the coffin. They pray for her protection and theirs, finishing with, “Let us go and enjoy our good fortune” (102).