Monologue

Mrs Arbuthnot Monologue from A Woman of No Importance

From A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde

female · anguished · 1:29 min

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I owe nothing to other women. There is not one of them to help me. There is not one woman in the world to whom I could go for pity, if I would take it, or for sympathy, if I could win it. Women are hard on each other. That girl, last night, good though she is, fled from the room as though I were a tainted thing. She was right. I am a tainted thing. But my wrongs are my own, and I will bear them alone. I must bear them alone. What have women who have not sinned to do with me, or I with them? We do not understand each other. (Enter HESTER behind.) (GERALD: I implore you to do what I ask you.) What son has ever asked of his mother to make so hideous a sacrifice? None. (GERALD: What mother has ever refused to marry the father of her own child? None.) Let me be the first, then. I will not do it.

About this piece

Mrs. Arbuthnot expresses her profound sense of isolation and despair regarding her experiences as a woman, feeling rejected by her peers and burdened by her past.

40s · despair · isolation · identity · betrayal · female relationships

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