Monologue

Hagen Monologue from Prince Hagen

From Prince Hagen by Upton Sinclair

male · philosophical · 1:52 min

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Here is this civilization... simply appalling in its vastness. The countless millions of your people, the wealth you have piled up... it seems like a huge bubble that may burst any minute. And the one device by which it is all kept together... is pretense! (GER: Why do you think that?) Life, Gerald, is the survival of the strong. I care not if it be in a jungle or in a city, it is the warfare of each against all. But in the former case it's brute force, and in the latter it's power of mind. And don't you see that the ingenious device which makes the animal of the slums the docile slave of the man who can outwit him... is this Morality... this absolutely sublimest invention, this most daring conception that ever flashed across the mind of man? (GER: Oh, I see.) I used to wonder at it down there on the Bowery. The poor are a thousand to your one, and the best that is might be theirs, if they chose to take it; but there is Morality! They call it their virtue. And so the rich man may have his vices in peace. By heaven, if that is not a wondrous achievement, I have not seen one!

About this piece

30s · disgust · power · morality · class struggle · survival

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