Monologue

Bertha Monologue from The Father

From The Father by August Strindberg

female · anguished · 1:19 min

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Yes, but you mustn't say anything about it. Promise me you won't. (CAPTAIN: Tell me what it is then.) In the evening she generally turns down the lamp and then she makes me sit at a table holding a pen over a piece of paper. And then she says that the spirits are to write. (CAPTAIN: What's all this--and you have never told me about it?) Forgive me, but I dared not, for Grandmother says the spirits take revenge if one talks about them. And then the pen writes, but I don't know whether I'm doing it or not. Sometimes it goes well, but sometimes it won't go at all, and when I am tired nothing comes, but she wants it to come just the same. And tonight I thought I was writing beautifully, but then grandmother said it was all from Stagnelius, and that I had deceived her, and then she got terribly angry.

About this piece

Bertha grapples with the pressure of her writing and the fear of supernatural repercussions, revealing her inner turmoil and conflict with her grandmother's expectations.

20s · confusion · family · madness · identity · power

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Run it out loud with a spotlight that follows your voice, line by line, until it's off the page. Free to start, no credit card.

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