“Each lie
  Redounded to the praise of man, was victory
  Man’s nature had both right to get and might to gain."[B]

[Footnote B:  Fifine at the Fair, cxxviii.]

But it leads to the revelation of a higher law than that of selfishness.  The very assertion of the self which leads into evil, ultimately leaves the self assertion futile.  There is the disappointment of utter failure; the sinner is thrown back upon himself empty-handed.  He finds himself subjected, even when sinning,

                                         “To the reign
  Of other quite as real a nature, that saw fit
  To have its way with man, not man his way with it."[A]

[Footnote A:  Fifine at the Fair, cxxviii.]

“Poor pabulum for pride when the first love is found
Last also! and, so far from realizing gain,
Each step aside just proves divergency in vain. 
The wanderer brings home no profit from his quest
Beyond the sad surmise that keeping house were best
Could life begin anew."[B]

[Footnote B:_Ibid_. cxxix.]

The impossibility of living a divided life, of enjoying at once the sweets of the flesh on the “Turf,” and the security of the “Towers,” is the text of Red Cotton Nightcap Country.  The sordid hero of the poem is gradually driven to choose between the alternatives.  The best of his luck, the poet thinks, was the

  “Rough but wholesome shock,
  An accident which comes to kill or cure,
  A jerk which mends a dislocated joint!"[C]

[Footnote C:  Red Cotton Nightcap Country.]

The continuance of disguise and subterfuge, and the retention of “the first falsehood,” are ultimately made impossible to Leonce Miranda: 

  “Thus by a rude in seeming—­rightlier judged
  Beneficent surprise, publicity
  Stopped further fear and trembling, and what tale
  Cowardice thinks a covert:  one bold splash
  Into the mid-shame, and the shiver ends,
  Though cramp and drowning may begin perhaps."[D]

[Footnote D:  Ibid.]

In the same spirit he finds Miranda’s suicidal leap the best deed possible for him.

                       “‘Mad!’ ’No! sane, I say. 
  Such being the conditions of his life,
  Such end of life was not irrational. 
  Hold a belief, you only half-believe,
  With all-momentous issues either way,—­
  And I advise you imitate this leap,
  Put faith to proof, be cured or killed at once!’"[A]

[Footnote A:  Red Cotton Nightcap Country.]

Thus it is the decisive deed that gains the poet’s approval.  He finds the universe a great plot against a pied morality.  Even Guido claims some kind of regard from him, since “hate,” as Pompilia said, “was the truth of him.”  In that very hate we find, beneath his endless subterfuges, something real, at last.  And since, through his hate, he is frankly measuring his powers against the good at work in the world, there cannot remain any doubt of the issue.  To bring the rival forces face to face is just what is wanted.