In a play by Mr. James Bernard Fagan, _The Prayer of the Sword_, we have
a much clearer example of an inadequate obstacle. A youth named Andrea
has been brought up in a monastery, and destined for the priesthood; but
his tastes and aptitudes are all for a military career. He is, however,
on the verge of taking his priestly vows, when accident calls him forth
into the world, and he has the good fortune to quell a threatened
revolution in a romantic Duchy, ruled over by a duchess of surpassing
loveliness. With her he naturally falls in love; and the tragedy lies,
or ought to lie, in the conflict between this earthly passion and his
heavenly calling and election. But the author has taken pains to make
the obstacle between Andrea and Ilaria absolutely unreal. The fact that
Andrea has as yet taken no irrevocable vow is not the essence of the
matter. Vow or no vow, there would have been a tragic conflict if Andrea
had felt absolutely certain of his calling to the priesthood, and had
defied Heaven, and imperilled his immortal soul, because of his
overwhelming passion. That would have been a tragic situation; but the
author had carefully avoided it. From the very first--before Andrea had
ever seen Ilaria--it had been impressed upon us that he had no priestly
vocation. There was no struggle in his soul between passion and duty;
there was no struggle at all in his soul. His struggles are all with
external forces and influences; wherefore the play, which a real
obstacle might have converted into a tragedy, remained a sentimental
romance--and is forgotten.
