TIMON OF ATHENS A monologue from the play by William Shakespeare TIMON: Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall That girdles in those wolves, dive in the earth And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent! Obedience fail in children! Slaves and fools, Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench And minister in their steads! To general filths Convert o' th' instant, green virginity! Do't in your parents' eyes! Bankrupts, hold fast; Rather than render back, out with your knives And cut your trusters' throats! Bound servants, steal: Large-handed robbers your grave masters are And pill by law. Maid, to thy master's bed: Thy mistress is o' th' brothel. Son of sixteen, Pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire; With it beat out his brains! Piety and fear, Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth, Domestic awe, night-rest and neighborhood, Instruction, manners, mysteries and trades, Degrees, observances, customs and laws, Decline to your confounding contraries, And yet confusion live! Plagues incident to men, Your potent and infectious fevers heap On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica, Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt As lamely as their manners! Lust and liberty Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth, That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains, Sow all th' Athenian bosoms, and their crop Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath, That their society, as their friendship, may Be merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from thee But nakedness, thou detestable town; Take thou that too, with multiplying bans! Timon will to the woods, where he shall find Th' unkindest beast more kinder than mankind. The gods confound -- hear me, you good gods all -- Th' Athenians both within and out that wall; And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen. Purchase this play! MORE MONOLOGUES BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

RELATED LINKS: Biographical aspects of the Sonnets - Examines the worth of Shakespeare's sonnets in piecing together clues as to the nature of his romantic life. Doubtful Plays of Shakespeare - Analysis of evidence supporting the claim of Shakespearean authorship of several questionable Elizabethan plays. Greene's Jealousy of Shakespeare - As early as 1592, Shakespeare's dramatic work had excited the envy and indignation of his contemporaries, including the accomplished scholar and dramatist, Robert Greene. His Family and Education - Available biographical details of Shakespeare's early life. His Marriage and Relations with his Wife - Known facts of Shakespeare's relationship with Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare Index - An index of articles on to the Elizabethan dramatist. The Shakespeare-Bacon Theory - Analysis of the theory that the plays of William Shakespeare were not written by the man whose biography we are familiar with, but rather under pseudonym by Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon. Shakespeare Monologues - More monologues by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Coined Words - A study of words coined by Shakespeare which either have been, or deserve to be, adopted into common usage. Shakespeare: Sonnets - An index of poems by William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare - A biography. William Shakespeare - A biography. Purchase books by William Shakespeare Search eBay! or Abebooks for more books by William Shakespeare. Find more articles on SHAKESPEARE:

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