Monologue Title: “I Would Have Survived!”
From the Play: No More Trojan Wennen
Genre: Drama
Author: Justin “Justy” DeForest
Character: Hafiye, a pragmatic young Trojan wenn and rival of Nicodice
Setting: On the Ramparts of Ancient Troy
Background: After Troy’s defeat, the Trojan Wennen wait for the Greeks to carry them away to Greece as slaves and concubines. Nicodice, a philosophical young wenn of mixed Trojan and Greek blood, had the opportunity to escape this detestable fate by accepting the marriage proposal of Philotimos, a young Greek soldier. However, she refused him, citing that she would have grown to hate him in Greece if she had to watch her Trojan friends suffer in bondage. Nicodice concludes, “A marriage without love is slavery without chains for both parties.” Hafiye, her more pragmatic childhood rival, now tells Nicodice exactly what she thinks of her countrywenn’s idealism.
HAFIYE
Slavery without chains is the best any of us can hope for!
All living things are slaves of the desire to survive. You think
humin beings are different because we have minds that can reason?
What better things can our minds achieve if we don’t first preserve
our bodies? Can this civilization you envision be attained if just people allow themselves to be annihilated? It’s the absurdity of being humin
that we must sometimes perform evil in order to preserve what is good!
You’d rather not live if you must watch others suffer? A noble thought, Nicodice, but impractical. — Someone is always suffering!
I want to live as long as possible and with as little pain as possible.
Does my honesty offend you? I’ll tell you something else.
Do you know why I hate you so?
— It’s because I’ve always admired you, and you have no right to throw
your life away like this!
You should have chosen Philotimos. You should have betrayed your
country without a second thought. — I would have! Yes, Nicodice,
I could have watched my countrywenns moan and wail in slavery and turned a deaf ear so long as it was not I who suffered! I could have lied. I could have said, ‘I love you!’ to a Greek whom I despised so long as he came to my bed with gentleness.
I am not noble as you are, Nicodice, but I would have survived! I would
have done anything to avoid what Danisma endured!
© Justin “Justy” DeForest 1987, 2008, 2021
Greetings from Justicea 