Monologue

Rosencrantz Monologue from Hamlet

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

male · philosophical · 51 sec

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The single and peculiar life is bound With all the strength and armour of the mind, To keep itself from ’noyance; but much more That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest The lives of many. The cease of majesty Dies not alone; but like a gulf doth draw What’s near it with it. It is a massy wheel Fix’d on the summit of the highest mount, To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things Are mortis’d and adjoin’d; which when it falls, Each small annexment, petty consequence, Attends the boist’rous ruin. Never alone Did the King sigh, but with a general groan.

About this piece

Rosencrantz reflects on the heavy burden of kingship and the interconnectedness of lives affected by the fall of a ruler, expressing a deep sense of loss and the weight of responsibility.

20s · sadness · death · power · isolation · fate

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