Monologue

Schufterle Monologue from The Robbers

From The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller

male · dark · 1:53 min

Bah! bah! What of that? If they had but been men it would have been another matter--but they were babes in swaddling clothes, and shrivelled old nurses that kept the flies from them, and dried-up stove-squatters who could not crawl to the door--patients whining for the doctor, who, with his stately gravity, was marching to the sport. All that had the use of their legs had gone forth in the sight, and nothing remained at home but the dregs of the city. (CHARLES: Alas for the poor creatures! Sick people, sayest thou, old men and infants?) Ay, the devil go with them! And lying-in-women into the bargain; and women far gone with child, who were afraid of miscarrying under the gibbet; and young mothers, who thought the sight might do them a mischief, and mark the gallows upon the foreheads of their unborn babes--poor poets, without a shoe, because their only pair had been sent to the cobbler to mend--and other such vermin, not worth the trouble of mentioning. As I chanced to pass by a cottage I heard a great squalling inside. I looked in; and, when I came to examine, what do you think it was? Why, an infant--a plump and ruddy urchin--lying on the floor under a table which was just beginning to burn. Poor little wretch! said I, you will be cold there, and with that I threw it into the flames!

Rehearse Schufterle'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.