Monologue

Jetter Monologue from Egmont

From Egmont by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

male · anguished · 1:49 min

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War! War! Do ye know what ye are shouting about? That it should slip glibly from your tongue is natural enough; but what wretched work it is for us, I have not words to tell you. To be stunned the whole year round by the beating of the drum; to hear of nothing except how one troop marched here, and another there; how they came over this height, and halted near that mill; how many were left dead on this field, and how many on that; how they press forward, and how one wins, and another loses, without being able to comprehend what they are fighting about; how a town is taken, how the citizens are put to the sword, and how it fares with the poor women and innocent children. This is a grief and a trouble, and then one thinks every moment, "Here they come! It will be our turn next." (Soest: Therefore every citizen must be practised in the use of arms.) Fine talking, indeed, for him who has a wife and children. And yet I would rather hear of soldiers than see them. (Buyck: I might take offence at that.) It was not intended for you, countryman. When we got rid of the Spanish garrison, we breathed freely again.

About this piece

30s · fear · war · suffering · family · freedom

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