Monologue

Theseus Monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream

From A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

male · philosophical · 1:17 min

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More strange than true. I never may believe These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact: One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt: The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. Such tricks hath strong imagination, That if it would but apprehend some joy, It comprehends some bringer of that joy. Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear?

About this piece

Theseus reflects on the nature of love and imagination, expressing skepticism about the fantastical elements of the lovers' experiences and the blurred lines between reality and perception.

30s · confusion · madness · imagination · love · perception

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