THE PORTRAIT OF MRS. W.
A monologue from the
play by Josephine Preston Peabody
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Portrait of Mrs. W.: A Play in Three Acts with an Epilogue.
Josephine Preston Peabody. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1922. |
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- SYMES: Do you think a man could look on you, do you
think a man could hear you speak, and learn unmoved of those
burdens that threatened to crush your youth?... Could any man
of feeling look on the spectacle of Genius rending the spirit
of a lovely female, from within; and the thorns of this world
thrust in her pathway; and keep humbly to his by-path, with no
dream of being a rescuer? -- Yes. I confess to you, I was a trespasser.
I tried to find out all I could of your life, your trials, your
natural protectors; and finding no help there, I lost my head.
And if, in that state of fascinated desperation, I conceived
the wild dream--that I might be blessed to lighten your destiny
... I pray you to forgive my youth. I was a dumb thing; an uncouth
creature always; timid of myself. I was thinking of taking orders,
when I met you. I was an only son; with a few women-folk. It
was what they desired. We had always had enough. -- Then, when
I saw you, and read what you had written; and understood your
great thoughts struggling in this insolent world, -- I knew that
it was my duty to follow my conscience only; with one taper in
my hand, a little truth that lighted the world newly. -- And
I longed to see whatever you should see. And afterwards
... I learned that you were living and thinking over the water,
in those terrible days with the French. And I hoped that I might
but see you, once again. I am deeply in your debt, that you permit
me to tell you the truth. Surely, happiness must be something
like this.
MORE MONOLOGUES BY JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY |
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