Monologue

Sir Robert Chiltern Monologue from An Ideal Husband

From An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

male · anguished · 1:13 min

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My wife! Never! She does not know what weakness or temptation is. I am of clay like other men. She stands apart as good women do—pitiless in her perfection—cold and stern and without mercy. But I love her, Arthur. We are childless, and I have no one else to love, no one else to love me. Perhaps if God had sent us children she might have been kinder to me. But God has given us a lonely house. And she has cut my heart in two. Don’t let us talk of it. I was brutal to her this evening. But I suppose when sinners talk to saints they are brutal always. I said to her things that were hideously true, on my side, from my stand-point, from the standpoint of men. But don’t let us talk of that.

About this piece

Sir Robert Chiltern expresses his emotional turmoil regarding his relationship with his wife, revealing feelings of inadequacy and isolation in the face of her perceived perfection.

30s · sadness · love · isolation · betrayal · family

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