Monologue

Adolphe Monologue from There Are Crimes and Crimes

From There Are Crimes and Crimes by August Strindberg

male · philosophical · 1:34 min

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(As if speaking to himself) There are crimes not mentioned in the Criminal Code, and these are the worse ones, for they have to be punished by ourselves, and no judge could be more severe than we are against our own selves. (HENRIETTE: Well, that friend of yours, did he find peace?) After endless self-torture he reached a certain degree of composure, but life had never any real pleasures to offer him. He never dared to accept any kind of distinction; he never dared to feel himself entitled to a kind word or even well-earned praise: in a word, he could never quite forgive himself. (HENRIETTE: Never? What had he done then?) He had wished the life out of his father. And when his father suddenly died, the son imagined himself to have killed him. Those imaginations were regarded as signs of some mental disease, and he was sent to an asylum. From this he was discharged after a time as wholly recovered--as they put it. But the sense of guilt remained with him, and so he continued to punish himself for his evil thoughts.

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30s · sadness · guilt · family · madness · redemption

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