I was doing some monologue searching for my up-coming acting competition, and this one ironically captured my attention. Not because I plan on performing it anytime soon, but because at the time I was also pondering inner beauty and some personal negative attitudes I've been struggling with. Take a look at what the reformed "shrew", Katherine, says about unamiable women and their effect upon those around them:
Fie, fie, unknit that threat'ning unkind brow
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Katherine's speech in its entirety in this part of "The Taming of The Shrew" is actually about the fraility of women and being subservient to husbands (any feminist would rail against the rest of the monologue, and since marriage isn't my topic at hand I'll refrain from posting and commenting on the rest of the speech :-p). But this passage is currently significant to me because for many months now, in my worst moments, I have been like that "fountain troubled". Since unkind attitudes and impatience are hardly ever justified I won't go into all the reasons and excuses I have for being the way I have been. I simply know that I didn't have to search my heart very deep before I found things I didn't like; things that "blot [my] beauty like the frost".
I am determined to no longer "offer war where I should kneel for peace". If you have been a victim of one of my shrew's scornful darts, you have my sincerest apology.
(If you would like to read the entire speech or learn more about the play, you can check out my source.)
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