Monologue

Czare Monologue from Vera

From Vera by Oscar Wilde

male · defiant · 1:22 min

Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I plead not for my own life, but for the lives of my brothers, the people. I am sick of being afraid. I have done with terror now. From this day I proclaim war against the people--war to their annihilation. As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with them. I shall grind them to powder, and strew their dust upon the air. There shall be a spy in every man's house, a traitor on every hearth, a hangman in every village, a gibbet in every square. Plague, leprosy, or fever shall be less deadly than my wrath; I will make every frontier a grave-yard, every province a lazar-house, and cure the sick by the sword. I shall have peace in Russia, though it be the peace of the dead. Who said I was a coward? Who said I was afraid? See, thus shall I crush this people beneath my feet!

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