Monologue

Hero Monologue from Much Ado About Nothing

From Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

female · contemplative · 2:02 min

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Why, you speak truth. I never yet saw man, How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur’d, But she would spell him backward: if fair-fac’d, She would swear the gentleman should be her sister; If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antick, Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed; If low, an agate very vilely cut; If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds; If silent, why, a block moved with none. So turns she every man the wrong side out, And never gives to truth and virtue that Which simpleness and merit purchaseth. (URSULA: Sure, sure, such carping is not commendable.) No; not to be so odd, and from all fashions, As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable. But who dare tell her so? If I should speak, She would mock me into air: O! she would laugh me Out of myself, press me to death with wit. Therefore let Benedick, like cover’d fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly: It were a better death than die with mocks, Which is as bad as die with tickling. (URSULA: Yet tell her of it: hear what she will say.) No; rather I will go to Benedick, And counsel him to fight against his passion. And, truly, I’ll devise some honest slanders To stain my cousin with. One doth not know How much an ill word may empoison liking.

About this piece

Hero expresses her frustration with the superficial judgments of men, revealing her inner turmoil and the societal pressures she faces regarding beauty and worth.

20s · disgust · identity · betrayal · love · jealousy

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