The Visit

At the broken-down train station in Guellen, a European town of unspecified nationality, five men in rags watch the trains pass. The commuters speed by instead of stopping. The fifth man is making a banner that reads: “Welcome Claire” (11). They discuss the imminent arrival of the millionairess, a Guellen native who they are hoping will provide an endowment to save their rotting town. The men lament about what the town once was—an arts center where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent a night once in the local hotel, the Golden Apostle, where Johannes Brahms composed a quartet, and gunpowder was invented. The Mayor, Priest, Schoolmaster, and Alfred Ill enter, all in similarly ragged clothing, discussing the splashy welcome they’ve planned (within budget) for Claire Zachanassian, whose philanthropic donations have revived many towns. The Bailiff enters on a mission to repossess whatever he can find in the Town Hall to settle the town’s debt, but the Mayor insists that the Town Hall has nothing but an old typewriter. No one in the town pays taxes. Even the town’s History Museum has been sold off to America. The Bailiff notes, “The country’s booming […] but Guellen goes bankrupt. The men blame the “Free Masons,” “the Jews,” “High Finance,” and “International Communism” (13-14) for conspiring against them.

The men debate whether the sign is too familiar, or whether it ought to address Claire by her full name, Claire Zachanassian, or even her maiden name, Claire Wascher. She is their last hope, so it’s important that they make the right impression, but they don’t know much about her aside from her lackluster school records and that her father built something. The Mayor turns to Ill, who knew her well, depending on his memories to fill out the Mayor’s welcome speech. Ill describes her “with her red hair streaming out, […] a devilish beautiful little witch. Life tore us apart. Life. That’s the way it is” (15). He recalls her as caring about justice, once throwing rocks at a police officer for arresting a beggar. And she was generous, once stealing potatoes to feed an old widow. The Mayor confides to Ill that he plans to step down in the spring, and because Ill is the most well-liked person in Guellen, the council has decided to nominate Ill as the next Mayor. But at the moment, Claire is expected in two hours, and they must get dressed up and prepare their families to stand in formation and greet her. The town choir will be there to sing, as will the Athletics Club in pyramid formation. They’ll also ring the fire bell, since of all the town bells, that one hasn’t been sold.

Suddenly, the passing train screeches to an unexpected stop. The men are shocked as Claire Zachanassian enters. She is 63 with red hair, graceful, and “[dressed] to kill” (17). She is accompanied by her Butler Boby, who is about 80, and Husband VII, who is dressed to go fishing. The train’s Ticket Inspector follows excitedly, berating Claire for pulling the emergency brake, which simply isn’t done. The train timetable must be kept, regardless of emergencies. Claire states, “I always pull the Emergency Brake” (17). She surveys the town, “recogniz[ing] the wretched dump” (17). Stunned to see her, Ill says her name. The Mayor, Schoolmaster, and Priest panic. Nonchalantly, Claire gives the Ticket Inspector a four-thousand-pound donation. He realizes whom he is berating and apologizes profusely, offering to keep the train there in case she needs it. Claire tells him sharply to go away. Husband VII complains that the press is still on the train, unaware that Claire’s entourage has disembarked. Claire replies that she doesn’t need the press yet, and they’ll undoubtedly come back. The Mayor welcomes her, drowned out by the departing train. But Claire ignores him when she spots Ill.

Claire and Ill greet each other. Ill is anxious. She tells him that she has been planning to come back to Guellen her entire life, ever since she left. They remember the pet names they called each other. She was his “little sorceress,” and he was her “black panther” (20). Ill says that he still is her black panther, but she replies that he’s not—he’s old and fat. Ill claims that she hasn’t changed, and Claire retorts that she’s grown old and fat too, and now she has an artificial leg, having lost one in a car accident. Now, she only travels by express train. Claire shows off the leg. She introduces her seventh husband, whom she has named Moby (his real name is Pedro) to rhyme with her butler, whom she named Boby. She asserts that their marriage is very happy. Looking around, Claire says that her father built the train station bathrooms. She meets important people in the town and asks strange questions. Does the town Policeman ever turn a blind eye? (He can.) Does the Priest offer comfort to those who are condemned to die? (The death penalty is abolished.) Since Claire won’t travel by car, she has two strongmen gangster servants, Roby and Toby, whom she paid to save from the death penalty to work for her. They carry her around in a sedan-chair.

Claire wants to take Ill to see the spots where she and he used to tryst. She orders her luggage and a coffin to be sent ahead to the Golden Apostle hotel. Surprised, the Mayor questions the coffin, which Claire vaguely says she carries in case she needs it. Roby and Toby carry Claire off, and her servants carry the coffin across the stage and exit. Then two fat older men enter, introducing themselves to the Policeman as Koby and Loby (named by Claire) and part of Claire’s entourage. They’re blind, and the Policeman is suspicious of them, but he takes their hands to lead them to the hotel. The scene shifts to the Golden Apostle, a once luxurious hotel that is now run-down. The Mayor and Schoolmaster share a drink in front of Claire’s mountain of luggage. They muse about the coffin and the caged black panther they saw brought in. The Mayor hopes she’s planning to stay and invest a lot of money, noting that Ill seemed to have her in the palm of his hand. The Schoolmaster found her terrifying, comparing her to one of the Fates or “an avenging Greek goddess” (26). The Policeman enters and joins them for a drink as they discuss the perplexing woman and her strange followers. The men from the train station become trees, poetically changing the scene to the woods.

Claire and Ill are carried to Konrad’s Village Wood, followed by Husband VII and the Butler, who holds the hands of the two blind men. Claire finds her and Ill’s names carved in a tree, now distorted from the tree’s growth. She sends off most of her entourage and then talks about how they kissed there when they were 17 and 20. But then she tells how Ill married Matilda Blumhard, whose family was wealthy and owned the General Store. Claire was working in a brothel when she was found and married by Zachanassian, an old multimillionaire Armenian who liked her red hair. Calling for a cigar, Claire smokes. Ill claims he married Matilda for Claire’s sake, because staying in Guellen would have ruined her, like it ruined him. Claire asks whether his wife and children make him happy, and he demurs, asserting that only her happiness matters. Ill says he has barely left the town at all, while Claire travelled everywhere. He asks if Claire will help the town, and she responds, “I shan’t leave my home-town in the lurch” (30). They flirt, and Ill kisses her hand, which she informs him is also artificial and made of ivory. Recoiling, he asks if she is entirely artificial. She replies, “Practically” (31), explaining that she was the sole survivor of a plane crash. She’s “unkillable” (31). The two blind followers repeat the word.

At the Golden Apostle, a band plays for their arrival. There is food and more townspeople, including the Mayor, Schoolmaster, Policeman, and a Gymnast. Claire meets the Mayor’s wife, whom she recognizes from school, and Matilda, Ill’s wife, whom Claire observes has “grown very thin and pale” (32). She asks the Doctor if he writes death certificates, advising him to diagnose the next one as a heart attack. Ill laughs, praising Claire’s sense of humor. Quietly, he tells the Mayor that Claire has promised hundreds of thousands of pounds. Nonchalantly, Claire says she is getting divorced and marrying a German movie star, even though she said her marriage was happy earlier. She explains that all her marriages are happy, but she has always wanted to get married in the Guellen church. The Mayor gives a speech, praising Claire using the bare details he has. Afterward, Claire corrects some of his praise. Then she announces that she plans to give Guellen a million pounds. Everyone gasps. Half will go to the town and half will be divided among its citizens. But she has one condition. She states, “I’m buying myself justice” (36).

Her Butler, Boby, was once the Chief Justice in Guellen. He tells the crowd how in 1910, he arbitrated a case about paternity. Claire Wascher was pregnant, and she named Alfred Ill as the father. The two blind men come forward and tell the crowd that Ill paid them to lie and testify that they each had slept with Claire. Years later Claire found them and gave them to Koby and Loby, her goons, who castrated and blinded them. Ill exclaims that what happened is “over and done with, dead and buried!” (38) Claire tells everyone that the child lived a year and then died. The court’s judgment had forced her into sex work to survive. Now she is offering Guellen a million pounds “if someone kills Alfred Ill” (38). Everyone is silent for a moment, shocked. Then Matilda throws her arms around Ill. Claire asserts that she has never forgotten. Now that they are both old, she wants to settle the injustice between them. She asserts, “You chose your life, but you forced me into mine” (39). The Mayor comes forward, indignant, rejecting her offer for the sake of humanity and the townspeople, avowing, “We would rather have poverty than blood on our hands,” drawing applause from the crowd. Claire replies, “I’ll wait” (39).