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| Character | Cain???? | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Lamenting, Complaining, Frustrated, Afraid | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1821 | |
| Period | 19th Century | |
| Genre | Drama | |
| Description | Cain curses God for making him mortal. Then he spots Lucifer approaching him | |
| Location | ACT I, Scene 1 | |
Summary
The play is a dramatization of the legend of Cain and Abel. This monologue is in the first scene of the play. Cain's parents, Adam and Eve, are praying and praising God together with Abel, Zillah and Adah. Cain refuses to praise God. He made him mortal because of a sin he didn't even commit. When his family leaves, Cain laments his mortality and the fact that the sin that God punished by making man mortal was committed before he was even born. Lucifer, who in the play acts as Cain's guide and mentor, appears for the first time. Cain describes his vision of Lucifer right before he approaches him.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| CAIN (solus): And this is Life?—Toil! and wherefore should I toil?—because My father could not keep his place in Eden? What had I done in this?—I was unborn: I sought not to be born; nor love the state To which that birth has brought me. Why did he Yield to the Serpent and the woman? or Yielding—why suffer? What was there in this? The tree was planted, and why not for him? If not, why place him near it, where it grew The fairest in the centre? They have but One answer to all questions, "'Twas his will, And he is good." How know I that? Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow? I judge but by the fruits—and they are bitter— Which I must feed on for a fault not mine. Whom have we here?—A shape like to the angels Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect Of spiritual essence: why do I quake? Why should I fear him more than other spirits, Whom I see daily wave their fiery swords Before the gates round which I linger oft, In Twilight's hour, to catch a glimpse of those Gardens which are my just inheritance, Ere the night closes o'er the inhibited walls And the immortal trees which overtop The Cherubim-defended battlements? If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels, Why should I quail from him who now approaches? Yet—he seems mightier far than them, nor less Beauteous, and yet not all as beautiful As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems Half of his immortality. And is it So? and can aught grieve save Humanity? He cometh. |
