Monologue

Lady Chiltern Monologue from An Ideal Husband

From An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

female · anguished · 1:44 min

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Robert, that is all very well for other men, for men who treat life simply as a sordid speculation; but not for you, Robert, not for you. You are different. All your life you have stood apart from others. You have never let the world soil you. To the world, as to myself, you have been an ideal always. Oh! be that ideal still. That great inheritance throw not away—that tower of ivory do not destroy. Robert, men can love what is beneath them—things unworthy, stained, dishonoured. We women worship when we love; and when we lose our worship, we lose everything. Oh! don’t kill my love for you, don’t kill that! (SIR ROBERT CHILTERN: Gertrude!) I know that there are men with horrible secrets in their lives—men who have done some shameful thing, and who in some critical moment have to pay for it, by doing some other act of shame—oh! don’t tell me you are such as they are! Robert, is there in your life any secret dishonour or disgrace? Tell me, tell me at once, that— (SIR ROBERT CHILTERN: That what?) (Speaking very slowly.) That our lives may drift apart.

About this piece

Lady Chiltern implores her husband, Robert, to maintain his integrity and not succumb to the world's corruption, revealing her deep love and fear of losing him.

30s · longing · love · idealism · betrayal · honor

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