Shakespeare's Monologues
Titania is the Queen of Fairies who clashes with her husband, Oberon, the king of fairies.
Titania is refusing to give up the child to Oberon because the child's mother was one of Titania's followers. Because of this Titania had promised the mother that she would raise the child in the mothers place if something ever happened to her.
Character Description, Monologue Scoring, and Monologue Synopsis provided to you by Bayana Burnell as part of the Spring 2020 THT 352 class.
Set your heart at rest:
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embarked traders on the flood,
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait
Following,.her womb then rich with my young squire,--
Would imitate, and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake do I rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.
Each row of the following table represents one line of the monologue. The first column indicates the number of syllables in that line of text. The second column is scored text, meaning that boldfaced text indicates where emphasis should be placed when performing the monologue. The third column represents a beat, or section, of the monologue. The third column is only used to indicate the beginning of a beat and its meaning, or the end of a beat.
Number or Syllables | Scored Text | Meaning of Beat |
---|---|---|
5 | Set your heart at rest: |
[Beat 1] to reassure |
10 | The fairy land buys not the child of me. | [Beat 1] End [Beat 2] to describe |
10 | His mother was a votaress of my order: | |
8 | And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, | |
10 | Full often hath she gossip'd by my side, | |
10 | And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, | |
10 | Marking the embarked traders on the flood, | |
10 | When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive | |
10 | And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; | |
8 | Which she, with pretty and swimming gait | |
10 | Following,- her womb then rich with my young squire,- | |
8 | Would imitate, and sail upon the land, | |
8 | To fetch me trifles, and return again, | |
10 | As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. | |
10 | But she, being mortal, of that boy did die; | [Beat 2] End |
10 | And for her sake I do rear up her boy, | [Beat 3] to proclaim |
10 | And for her sake I will not part with him. | [Beat 3] End |
Definitions from David & Ben Crystal / Shakespeare's Words are under copyright, and may not be used without their express permission. All other definitions are from sources in the public domain.
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