The play opens at the railway station of a small town named Guellen, which literally means “excrement”. This ramshackle town is the very picture of poverty. It is autumn, and four men from the town are gathered near a painter, who is making a banner that reads: “Welcome Claire… ” The express trains pass noisily by, and the four men discuss the fact that even the commuter trains no longer stop in Guellen. The factory is dead, and the town lies in ruin. The town was once a place of extraordinary culture and artistry: Goethe once spent a night there, and Brahms composed a quartet within its orders.
The painter chimes in to say that he was once a brilliant student at the Ecole des Beaux Art, and has now been reduced to sign-making. Another man notes that the town is “rotting”, and they begin to discuss the impending arrival of a millionairess who has donated extraordinary amounts of money to villages all over the country. The Schoolmaster, the Mayor, the Priest, and Mr. Alfred II, the most popular man in town, arrive at the railway station. These four prominent townspeople discuss their preparations for the millionairess’ arrival. The famous Claire Zachanassian previously Claire Wascher) was born in Guellen.
Her father was a builder in the town, and, long ago, Ill and Claire were lovers. In a burst of nostalgia, IlI describes his fond memories of their liaisons in Petersen’s Barn and Konrad’s Village Wood: her “red hair streaming out, slim and supple as a willow, and tender, ah, what a devilish beautiful little witch. Life tore us apart. Life” (205). As the Mayor prepares his speech, Il tells him that in their youth, Claire was a great lover of justice, and was always a generous woman. The Mayor then informs IIl that he is to be amed the successor to his office. Ill is elated by the announcement of this honor.
Suddenly, the express train comes to a stop: Claire Zachanassian is early. Claire is 63; her hair is still flaming red, and she is ostentatiously dressed. The overall effect of her appearance is both graceful and grotesque. Apparently, Claire had pulled the emergency brake on the express train, casting everything into disarray. The townspeople are thrown into a frenzy, not being fully prepared for her arrival. Claire argues with the ticket master, who chastises her for having pulled the brake. She attempts to demonstrate the power of wealth by offering him a large sum of money, but he refuses her bribe.
Claire’s husband (Husband VII) or “Moby”, as she refers to him, appears. Alfred and Claire meet face-to-face for the first time in years, and are quick to exchange endearments. Alfred refers to Claire as his “little wildcat” or “sorceress”, and she remembers that she had called him her “black panther” when they were young lovers. Claire, who has grown old and fat, shows off her prosthetic limb, received after a terrible car accident. Her husband’s real name, she explains, is Pedro, but she calls him Moby” because the moniker rhymes with “Boby”, her butler.
The celebration begins on an awkward note, as the singing of the choir and the Youth Club is drowned out by the rumbling of the express train. Claire, upon meeting the Policeman, cryptically asks him whether he’ll turn both of his eyes blind, and then laughs. She then asks the Priest whether he comforts the dying and the condemned, and ignores the Priest when he replies that there is no longer a death penalty in Switzerland. Claire declares that she wants to go to town, and explains that ever since the accident she has traveled by sedan-chair.
Her attendants Roby and Toby, who are described as a Herculean, gum-chewing pair, lift her sedan-chair into the air. Roby and Toby, it is explained, were once Manhattan gangsters facing death by electric chair, but were saved when Claire paid a million dollars for each man’s life. The sedan-chair, she notes, was a gift from the French President, and at one time resided in the Louvre. Seated atop her sedan-chair, Claire declares that she wishes to see Petersen’s Barn and Konrad’s Village Wood. The townspeople notice that she has come with a great deal of uggage and – oddly enough – a coffin.
Her entourage also includes a pair of old, fat, neatly-dressed men. The men are named “Koby” and “Loby”, and they are both blind. Claire has also brought with her a cage containing a black panther. Seeing this, the Schoolmaster begins to feel fearful. He states that Claire is a terrifying sight, and that she gives him the impression of “an avenging Greek goddes.. spinning destiny’s webs herself” (216). Claire plans to stay at the Golden Apostle, but first wishes to revisit the places where she spent the most important moments of her youth.
In Konrad’s Village Wood, the four men from the station are transformed into trees as Claire recalls how deeply she and IIl were in love when she was seventeen and he was twenty. When she became pregnant, he betrayed her by denying her paternity claim and marrying Matilda Bluhard, the daughter of the owner of the general store. Claire, in disgrace, fled to a brothel, and eventually married an old Armenian millionaire named Zachanassian. Standing with II in the wood, she points out the irony of it all: now she is the one with the money, and it is III who leads “a laughable life” (220).
Claire arns III of her malicious nature by saying, “I’ve grown into hell itself” (219). When IIl tenderly kisses Claire’s hand, she explains that it is made of ivory; she lost her real hand in a plane crash. “Clara, are you artificial? ” III asks (221). She responds by telling him that she is “unkillable”. As they approach the Golden Apostle, the trees become men once again. The gathering outside the hotel is lively: among those in attendance are a gymnastic team, the town band, the Mayor and his wife, and Ill’s wife, Matilda.
Claire asks the doctor whether he makes death certificates, and she advises him that he next time someone dies, he ought to declare that the cause of death was a heart attack. The townspeople all seem to find her a little disturbing, but III laughs joyfully and says that she is “delicious” (222). To add to the confusion, Claire announces that she is getting a divorce, and that her future husband (Husband VIII) is a German film star. She plans to marry him in Guellen Cathedral – something that had always been a childhood dream of hers.
The Mayor, prompted by II, then gives a long speech that concludes with the words “three cheers for the prodigal eturned” (225). Claire happily announces that she will give Guellen one million dollars: half for the town, and half to be shared amongst the families. She states that her gift is conditional, but before she can explain the condition, the crowd bursts into a euphoric roar. The Mayor asks Claire what the condition of her gift is, and she replies, “I’m buying myself justice” (226). The Mayor responds that “Justice can’t be bought” (226), but Claire says that everything can be brought.
She then brings Boby the Butler forward to prove her point. The Schoolmaster identifies Boby as Chief Justice Courtly: he was once the Lord Chief Justice of Guellen, and then assumed a position with the Kaffigen Court of Appeal. Twenty-five years ago, the Butler explains, Claire offered him an astounding sum of money to enter into her service, and he accepted. The Butler then goes on to explain why Claire feels that she is owed “justice”. In 1910, when he was Lord Chief Justice of Guellen, he arbitrated a paternity claim in which Clara Wascher (now Claire Zachanassian) claimed that Alfred III was the father of her child.
IlI denied her claim, and called in two witnesses. Koby and Loby come forward, holding hands, and say that their real names are Jacob Chicken and Louis Perch. It was they who had falsely “confessed” to sleeping with Claire in exchange for a pint of brandy. Years later, Claire tracked down the two men at the ends of the earth: Jacob in Canada, Louis in Australia. She handed them over to Toby and Roby, who castrated and blinded them, and then took them into her service. The result of this “miscarriage of justice” was tragic: Claire gave birth to a baby that lived for only one year (228), and became a prostitute in Hamburg.
Now, she tells the townspeople, she wants someone to avenge her by killing II. She turns to the man that she loved in her youth and says, “You decrepit, and me cut to bits by the surgeon’s knives. And now I want accounts between us settled. You chose your life, but you forced me into mine” (229). The Mayor steps in and says, “You forget, we are not savages.. reject your offer; and I reject it in the name of humanity. We would rather have poverty than blood on our hands” (229). The assembled crowd applauds loudly, but Claire ominously declares, “I’ll wait” (229).
