I must speak to him myself; for it is freely that I must make my choice. (Wangel: You have no choice, Ellida. You have no right to choose--no right without my permission.) You can never prevent the choice, neither you nor anyone. You can forbid me to go away with him--to follow him--in case I should choose to do that. You can keep me here by force--against my will. That you can do. But that I should choose, choose from my very soul--choose him, and not you--in case I would and did choose thus--this you cannot prevent. (Wangel: No; you are right. I cannot prevent that.) And so I have nothing to help me to resist. Here, at home, there is no single thing that attracts me and binds me. I am so absolutely rootless in your house, Wangel. The children are not mine--their hearts, I mean--never have been. When I go, if I do go, either with him tonight, or to Skjoldviken tomorrow, I haven't a key to give up, an order to give about anything whatsoever. I am absolutely rootless in your house--I have been absolutely outside everything from the very first.

Ellida Monologue from The Lady from the Sea

Rehearse Ellida's monologue