THE BONDS OF INTEREST
A monologue from the
play by Jacinto Benavente
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Plays by Jacinto Benavente. Trans. John Garrett Underhill.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1921. |
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CRISPIN: There is nothing for us to do but to take
advantage of our talents and our effrontery, for without effrontery
talents are of no use. The best thing, as it seems to me, will
be for you to talk as little as possible, but be very impressive
when you do, and put on the airs of a gentleman of quality. From
time to time then I will permit you to strike me across the back.
When anybody asks you a question, reply mysteriously and if you
open your mouth upon your own account, be sure that it is with
dignity, as if you were pronouncing sentence. You are young;
you have a fine presence. Until now you have known only how to
dissipate your resources; this is the time for you to begin to
profit by them. Put yourself in my hands. There is nothing so
useful to a man as to have someone always at his heels to point
out his merits, for modesty in one's self is imbecility, while
self-praise is madness, and so between the two we come into disfavor
with the world. Men are like merchandise; they are worth more
or less according to the skill of the salesman who markets them.
I tell you, though you were but muddy glass, I will so contrive
that in my hands you shall pass for pure diamond. And now let
us knock at the door of this inn, for surely it is the proper
thing to have lodgings on the main square.
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MONOLOGUES BY JACINTO BENAVENTE |
