Monologue

King Monologue from All's Well That Ends Well

From All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare

male · melancholic · 1:02 min

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Would I were with him! He would always say,— Methinks I hear him now; his plausive words He scatter’d not in ears, but grafted them To grow there and to bear,—“Let me not live,” This his good melancholy oft began On the catastrophe and heel of pastime, When it was out,—“Let me not live” quoth he, “After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses All but new things disdain; whose judgments are Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies Expire before their fashions.” This he wish’d. I, after him, do after him wish too, Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home, I quickly were dissolved from my hive To give some labourers room.

About this piece

The King reflects on the words of a deceased friend, expressing a deep sense of loss and a desire to escape his own existence as he grapples with the inevitability of aging and the fleeting nature of life.

50s · longing · death · isolation · identity

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