Monologue

Falstaff Monologue from Henry IV, Part 1

From Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare

male · defiant · 2:08 min

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Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins! (PRINCE: Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal! What a brawling dost thou keep!) Where’s Poins, Hal? (PRINCE: He is walked up to the top of the hill. I’ll go seek him.) I am accursed to rob in that thief’s company. The rascal hath removed my horse and tied him I know not where. If I travel but four foot by the square further afoot, I shall break my wind. Well, I doubt not but to die a fair death for all this, if I ’scape hanging for killing that rogue. I have forsworn his company hourly any time this two-and-twenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the rogue’s company. If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I’ll be hanged. It could not be else: I have drunk medicines. Poins! Hal! A plague upon you both! Bardolph! Peto! I’ll starve ere I’ll rob a foot further. An ’twere not as good a deed as drink, to turn true man, and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me, and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough. A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another! (They whistle.) Whew! A plague upon you all! Give me my horse, you rogues, give me my horse and be hanged!

About this piece

40s · anger · betrayal · identity · freedom · madness

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More from Henry IV, Part 1

  • Kinginspirational · 2:03 min
  • Kingjoyful · 2:13 min
  • Kinganguished · 1:13 min
  • Falstaffsarcastic · 1:13 min
  • Poinscomedic · 1:05 min
  • Princephilosophical · 1:45 min