Monologue

Don Juan Monologue from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy

From Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw

male · philosophical · 1:25 min

What do these recriminations prove, Ana? Only that the hero is as gross an imposture as the heroine. (ANA: It is all nonsense: most marriages are perfectly comfortable.) "Perfectly" is a strong expression, Ana. What you mean is that sensible people make the best of one another. Send me to the galleys and chain me to the felon whose number happens to be next before mine; and I must accept the inevitable and make the best of the companionship. Many such companionships, they tell me, are touchingly affectionate; and most are at least tolerably friendly. But that does not make a chain a desirable ornament nor the galleys an abode of bliss. Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?

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