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the limitations of film as a medium for rendering prose fiction, Huston‘s film is remarkably faithful to the text. The one major addition is the reading of ―Broken Vows‖, presented as a poem in itself, but in fact six stanzas of a fourteen-stanza poem, translated from the Irish by Lady Gregory. It is recited at the party by Mr Grace, an extra character introduced in the screenplay, who contributes some social balance between the overbearing Mr Browne, the drunken Freddy and the withdrawn Gabriel. BROKEN VOWS It is late last night the dog was speaking of you: The snipe was speaking of you in her deep marsh. It is you are the lonely bird through the woods: And that you may be without a mate until you find me. And my two eyes giving love to you for ever. You promised me a thing that was hard for you. A ship of gold under a silver mast: Twelve towns with a market in all of them. And a fine white court by the side of the sea. You promised me a thing that is not possible. That you would give me gloves of the skin of a fish: That you would give me shoes of the skin of a bird: And a suit of the dearest silk in Ireland. It was shutting the door after the house was robbed. You have taken the east from me; You have taken the west from me You have taken what is before me and what is behind me; You have taken the moon, you have taken the sun from me, And my fear is great that you have taken God from me!
There are two other ‗performances‘ in the film which I would like to focus on, as they show in different ways how the text is re-imagined for a different medium.
Volume 7 Special Issue 1
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Huston introduces the poem to prepare the ground for the theme of lost love. As Miss Daly comments, ―Imagine being in love like that!‖ We see Gretta entranced, and of course we discover later that she is still haunted by the memory of just such a love. Gabriel leads the applause, bringing Gretta out of her reverie, and perhaps attempting to demonstrate a kind of political correctness to Miss Ivors. The ―broken vows‖ themselves may also have some political significance, as it seems that the lover‘s loss extends to a sense of the land itself: ―It was shutting the door after the house was robbed. You have taken the east from me; You have taken the west from me‖.