Monologue

Faulkland Monologue from The Rivals

From The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

male · sarcastic · 1:50 min

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Now disappointment on her!--Defend this, Absolute; why don't you defend this?--Country-dances! jigs and reels! am I to blame now? A minuet I could have forgiven--I should not have minded that--I say I should not have regarded a minuet--but country-dances!--Zounds! had she made one in a cotillion--I believe I could have forgiven even that--but to be monkey-led for a night!--to run the gauntlet through a string of amorous palming puppies!--to show paces like a managed filly!--Oh, Jack, there never can be but one man in the world whom a truly modest and delicate woman ought to pair with in a country-dance; and, even then, the rest of the couples should be her great-uncles and aunts! (ABSOLUTE: Ay, to be sure!--grandfathers and grandmothers!) If there be but one vicious mind in the set, 'twill spread like a contagion--the action of their pulse beats to the lascivious movement of the jig--their quivering, warm-breathed sighs impregnate the very air--the atmosphere becomes electrical to love, and each amorous spark darts through every link of the chain!--I must leave you--I own I am somewhat flurried--and that confounded looby has perceived it. (Going.) (ABSOLUTE: Nay, but stay, Faulkland, and thank Mr. Acres for his good news.) Damn his news! (Exit.)

About this piece

Faulkland expresses his outrage and frustration over the social expectations and behaviors of women in dance, particularly feeling betrayed by a woman's choice to engage in country-dances.

20s · anger · identity · social norms · romantic frustration · modesty

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