Monologue

Oswald Monologue from Ghosts

From Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen

male · contemplative · 1:29 min

Rehearse this freeFind more monologues
And then, too, the joy of work! At bottom, it's the same thing. But that, too, you know nothing about. (MRS. ALVING: Perhaps you are right. Tell me more about it, Oswald.) I only mean that here people are brought up to believe that work is a curse and a punishment for sin, and that life is something miserable, something it would be best to have done with, the sooner the better. (MRS. ALVING: "A vale of tears," yes; and we certainly do our best to make it one.) But in the great world people won't hear of such things. There, nobody really believes such doctrines any longer. There, you feel it a positive bliss and ecstasy merely to draw the breath of life. Mother, have you noticed that everything I have painted has turned upon the joy of life?--always, always upon the joy of life?--light and sunshine and glorious air and faces radiant with happiness. That is why I'm afraid of remaining at home with you.

About this piece

Oswald expresses his struggle between the joy of life he captures in his art and the fear of being confined at home with his mother, revealing a deep longing for freedom and happiness.

20s · longing · identity · family · freedom · joy of life

Rehearse Oswald's monologue

Run it out loud with a spotlight that follows your voice, line by line, until it's off the page. Free to start, no credit card.

Rehearse freeStart rehearsing

More from Ghosts