Monologue

Lady Plyant Monologue from The Double Dealer

From The Double Dealer by William Congreve

female · anguished · 1:48 min

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Oh, reflect upon the horror of that, and then the guilt of deceiving everybody; marrying the daughter, only to make a cuckold of the father; and then seducing me, debauching my purity, and perverting me from the road of virtue in which I have trod thus long, and never made one trip, not one faux pas. Oh, consider it! What would you have to answer for if you should provoke me to frailty? Alas! humanity is feeble, heav'n knows! very feeble, and unable to support itself. (MEL: Where am I? is it day? and am I awake? Madam--) And nobody knows how circumstances may happen together. To my thinking, now I could resist the strongest temptation. But yet I know, 'tis impossible for me to know whether I could or not; there's no certainty in the things of this life. (MEL: Madam, pray give me leave to ask you one question.) O Lord, ask me the question; I'll swear I'll refuse it, I swear I'll deny it--therefore don't ask me; nay, you shan't ask me, I swear I'll deny it. O Gemini, you have brought all the blood into my face; I warrant I am as red as a turkey-cock. O fie, cousin Mellefont!

About this piece

Lady Plyant grapples with the emotional turmoil of betrayal and the loss of her virtue, reflecting on the consequences of deceit and the fragility of human nature.

30s · fear · betrayal · virtue · deception · human frailty

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