THE GHOST SONATA
A monologue from the
play by August
Strindberg
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Plays by August Strindberg, vol. 4. Trans. Edwin
Björkman. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916. |
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HUMMEL: How silent everybody is! [Long silence]
Here, for instance, in this respectable house, this attractive
home, where beauty and erudition and wealth have joined hands.
. . . [Long silence] All of us sitting here now--we know
who we are, don't we? I don't need to tell. . . . And all of
you know me, although you pretend ignorance. . . . In the next
room is my daughter--mine, as you know perfectly well.
She has lost the desire to live without knowing why. . . . The
fact is that she has been pining away in this air charged with
crime and deceit and falsehood of every kind. . . . That is the
reason why I have looked for a friend in whose company she may
enjoy the light and heat radiated by noble deeds. . . . [Long
silence] Here is my mission in this house: to tear up the
weeds, to expose the crimes, to settle all accounts, so that
those young people may start life with a clean slate in a home
that is my gift to them. [Long silence] Now I grant you
safe retreat. Everybody may leave in his due turn. Whoever stays
will be arrested. [Long silence] Do you hear that clock
ticking like the deathwatch hidden in a wall? Can you hear what
it says? -- "It's time! It's time!" -- When it strikes
in a few seconds, your time will be up, and then you can go,
but not before. You may notice, too, that the clock shakes its
fist at you before it strikes. Listen! There it is! "Better
beware," it says. . . . And I can strike, too. . . . [He
raps the top of a table with one of his crutches] Do you
hear?
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MONOLOGUES BY AUGUST STRINDBERG |
