Monologue

Bajazeth Monologue from Tamburlaine

From Tamburlaine by Christopher Marlowe

male · anguished · 1:47 min

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O life, more loathsome to my vexed thoughts Than noisome parbreak of the Stygian snakes, Which fills the nooks of hell with standing air, Infecting all the ghosts with cureless griefs! O dreary engines of my loathed sight, That see my crown, my honour, and my name Thrust under yoke and thraldom of a thief, Why feed ye still on day's accursed beams, And sink not quite into my tortur'd soul? You see my wife, my queen, and emperess, Brought up and propped by the hand of Fame, Queen of fifteen contributory queens, Now thrown to rooms of black abjection, Smeared with blots of basest drudgery, And villainess to shame, disdain, and misery. Accursed Bajazeth, whose words of ruth, That would with pity cheer Zabina's heart, And make our souls resolve in ceaseless tears, Sharp hunger bites upon and gripes the root From whence the issues of my thoughts do break! O poor Zabina! O my queen, my queen! Fetch me some water for my burning breast, To cool and comfort me with longer date, That, in the shorten'd sequel of my life, I may pour forth my soul into thine arms With words of love, whose moaning intercourse Hath hitherto been stay'd with wrath and hate Of our expressless bann'd inflictions.

About this piece

Bajazeth, a once powerful ruler, laments his fall from grace and the humiliation of his queen, expressing deep sorrow and longing amidst his despair.

40s · despair · power · loss · love · humiliation

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