Say what you will; I am the Emperor's liege, And how to please him my first thought must be. He did not send me here to fawn and cringe, And coax these boors into good humour. No! Obedience he must have. The struggle's this: Is king or peasant to be sovereign here? (ARM: Now is the moment! Now for my petition!) 'Twas not in sport that I set up the cap In Altdorf--or to try the people's hearts-- All this I knew before. I set it up That they might learn to bend those stubborn necks They carry far too proudly--and I placed What well I knew their pride could never brook Full in the road, which they perforce must pass, That, when their eye fell on it, they might call That lord to mind whom they too much forget. (HAR: But surely, sir, the people have some rights--) This is not time to settle what they are. Great projects are at work, and hatching now. The imperial house seeks to extend its power. Those vast designs of conquest which the sire Has gloriously begun, the son will end. This petty nation is a stumbling-block-- One way or other, it must be put down. (They are about to pass on. Armgart throws herself down before Gessler.)

Hermann Gessler Monologue from Wilhelm Tell

Rehearse Hermann Gessler's monologue