Monologue

Pericles Monologue

From Pericles by William Shakespeare

male · dark · 1:33 min

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How courtesy would seem to cover sin, When what is done is like an hypocrite, The which is good in nothing but in sight! If it be true that I interpret false, Then were it certain you were not so bad As with foul incest to abuse your soul; Where now you’re both a father and a son, By your untimely claspings with your child, Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father; And she an eater of her mother’s flesh, By the defiling of her parent’s bed; And both like serpents are, who though they feed On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men Blush not in actions blacker than the night, Will ’schew no course to keep them from the light. One sin, I know, another doth provoke; Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke: Poison and treason are the hands of sin, Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame: Then, lest my life be cropp’d to keep you clear, By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear. (Exit.) Re-enter Antiochus.

About this piece

Pericles confronts the moral corruption and incestuous relationships within the royal family of Antioch, expressing his revulsion and contemplating escape from the danger posed by their actions.

30s · disgust · betrayal · family · incest · shame

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