Monologue

Postmaster Monologue from The Inspector-General

From The Inspector-General by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

male · dramatic · 1:47 min

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I don't know myself. A supernatural power moved me. I had already summoned a courier to send it off by express; but I was overcome by a greater curiosity than I have ever felt in my life. "I can't, I can't," I hear a voice telling me. "I can't." But it pulled me and pulled me. In one ear I heard, "Don't open the letter. You will die like a chicken," and in the other it was just as if the devil were whispering, "Open it, open it." And when I cracked the sealing wax, I felt as if I were on fire; and when I opened the letter, I froze, upon my word, I froze. And my hands trembled, and everything whirled around me. (GOVERNOR: But how did you dare to open it? The letter of so powerful a personage?) But that's just the point--he's neither powerful nor a personage. (GOVERNOR: Then what is he in your opinion?) He's neither one thing nor another. The devil knows what he is. GOVERNOR (furiously). How neither one thing nor another? How do you dare to call him neither one thing nor another? And the devil knows what besides? I'll put you under arrest.

About this piece

30s · confusion · identity · power · curiosity · madness

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