Monologue

Duchess Of Berwick Monologue from Lady Windermere's Fan

From Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

female · sarcastic · 2:10 min

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Ah, the dear pretty baby! How is the little darling? Is it a boy or a girl? I hope a girl—Ah, no, I remember it’s a boy! I’m so sorry. Boys are so wicked. My boy is excessively immoral. You wouldn’t believe at what hours he comes home. And he’s only left Oxford a few months—I really don’t know what they teach them there. (LADY WINDERMERE: Are all men bad?) Oh, all of them, my dear, all of them, without any exception. And they never grow any better. Men become old, but they never become good. (LADY WINDERMERE: Windermere and I married for love.) Yes, we begin like that. It was only Berwick’s brutal and incessant threats of suicide that made me accept him at all, and before the year was out, he was running after all kinds of petticoats, every colour, every shape, every material. In fact, before the honeymoon was over, I caught him winking at my maid, a most pretty, respectable girl. I dismissed her at once without a character.—No, I remember I passed her on to my sister; poor dear Sir George is so short-sighted, I thought it wouldn’t matter. But it did, though—it was most unfortunate. (Rises.) And now, my dear child, I must go, as we are dining out. And mind you don’t take this little aberration of Windermere’s too much to heart. Just take him abroad, and he’ll come back to you all right.

About this piece

The Duchess of Berwick reflects on her tumultuous marriage and the infidelity of her husband, while offering advice to a younger woman about her own marital troubles.

40s · disgust · betrayal · identity · power · family

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