Monologue

Ferdinand Monologue from Egmont

From Egmont by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

male · anguished · 1:46 min

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Cruel father! Yes, I recognize thy nature in this command. Thou didst know my heart, my disposition, which thou hast so often censured as the inheritance of a tender-hearted Mother. To mould me into thine own likeness thou hast sent me hither. Thou dost compel me to behold this man on the verge of the yawning grave, in the grasp of an arbitrary doom, that I may experience the profoundest anguish; that thus, rendered callous to every fate, I may henceforth meet every event with a heart unmoved. (Egmont: I am amazed! Be calm! Act, speak like a man.) Oh, that I were a woman! That they might say--what moves, what agitates thee? Tell me of a greater, a more monstrous crime, make me the spectator of a more direful deed; I will thank thee, I will say: this was nothing. (Egmont: Thou dost forget thyself. Consider where thou art!) Let this passion rage, let me give vent to my anguish! I will not seem composed when my whole inner being is convulsed. Thee must I behold here? Thee? It is horrible! Thou understandest me not! How shouldst thou understand me? Egmont! Egmont! (Falling on his neck.)

About this piece

20s · anguish · fate · family · identity · death

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