Monologue and Audio
For our main project our class wrote monologues about problems that people dealt with in Shakespeare's time, and which we still deal with today. I decided to make my monologue about fate and free will, as these are major themes in Macbeth and are brought up often in modern stories as well. A transcript of my monologue is below:
Nicholas Jennings
Monologue: The Nature of Free Will
Sheldon has just returned from a trip to buy groceries, whereupon he has discovered the true nature of free will. Excited by his revelation, he immediately tells his wife.
While putting groceries away
“Honey, I’m home! You’ll never guess what I discovered on my trip: the true nature of free will! The truth is that... wait, perhaps this would be better expressed if I tell you how I got to this point. So, I was walking down the driveway to our motorcar, I opened up the gate and felt the door knock against something - And you know Karen we really should find out a way to get a better view of what’s on the other side of that door - because when I checked what it was I found this little girl in some ridiculous antediluvian girl scout uniform lying on the ground. Naturally I asked if she was ok and she replied that she was and asked if I would like to buy some cookies, I swear the endurance on that child was impressive, why can’t Carol be more like that? That sort of dedication is the future of our country I tell you!.. Anyhow, I told her that I only had the money I was going to use for groceries but that I supposed this could take the place of my dessert money, and bought a couple of boxes, a pity purchase really. And as I walked to the motorcar, which was awkward because it was in the same direction the girl was headed. I started wondering if I really had to buy those cookies. I mean, clearly it was the moral thing to, but why not just be amoral for a bit and live with it?
Stops, looks at Karen then gets back to sorting groceries
After that fiasco was over with, I reached the store without any further incidents, which should be apparent as incidents on the road tend to result in severe bodily harm or an unstylish orange jumpsuit, neither of which I have. Upon my arrival I chanced upon a lady who was currently leaving the store. I would not have paid her mind, ‘sept she blurted out a call as we neared each other, and asked if I was shopping for breakfast cereal. I was confused, but answered truthfully that I was, whereupon she told me with dire certainty that I would purchase Crunchy Squares, and that I shouldn't feed them to my children because of their copious amount of sugar. Her advice did not bother me so much as her prediction. How could she know what I would choose, and how could she be sure that her advice wouldn’t change my decision? I was unable to ask these questions as she immediately ran off to her vehicle, however I would not be left wondering for long. ‘Soon as I entered the store I could see the barren shelves of the breakfast cereal isle, and upon closer examination I found the only boxes left were of the same cereal named beforehand! Had I been as knowledgeable in this issue as I am now I would’ve fallen to the ground and thanked the heavens for such a clear sign of the error in my line of thinking!.. Instead I grabbed a box for the kids and went to the dairy aisle to buy more butter for toast, Crunchy Squares taste awful, what else am I supposed to eat?
Finishes with groceries and sits on living room chair
Looking back on this moment in my journey, I find it almost humorous how close I was to the truth and yet how little I suspected my coming revelation. That moment came as I was leaving the store. I was walking past the service provider kiosk near the front of the store when I noticed an advertisement for cable television. The gist of the ad was that if you didn’t have cable you would have a different world view which would cause your friends to leave which would cause you to seek new friends and on and on until you end up in jail. This was clearly an exaggeration but I got me thinking about cause and effect and that’s how I got my epiphany: If everything is caused by something else and most things cause numerous other things, it stands to reason that everything has been determined from the beginning. For example: I bought Crunchy Squares because they were the only option left, this was caused by their competition being sold out. The competing cereals sold out because of a fresh new advertising campaign made by the large corporate merger that happened a few weeks ago between the competitions parent companies, which only happened because the CEO’s of both companies had grandchildren that went to the same elementary school, which was only built in a convenient position for both families because in 1997 the city council felt the need replace an older school whose structure was failing due to the poor quality of wood used by the original constructors back in the 1950’s, and on top of that all of this research will no doubt of caused us to be put on some sort of watch list!.. Sorry about that Karen.
Lies down on chair.
That’s not the only thing though, so far I’ve only covered large scale situation, but on a low scale level the same rule holds. A hundred identical motorcars heading towards another set of a hundred Identical motorcars with the exact same conditions every time will produce a hundred identical crash scenes. The laws of physics don’t change, and if the input conditions don’t either it makes sense that you would get the same output every time. The true revelation comes when you realize that our brain is fundamentally just a bunch of neurons sending signals to each other. Sure it’s an incredibly complicated system, but at the end of the day it should still follow the same rules as everything else. I didn’t buy cookies from that girlscout because I felt bad for hitting her in the face, I gave her cookies because when she asked if I wanted to buy some, information was sent to my brain, which led to a chain reaction of neurons firing that caused me to accept her offer.
slows down and gets very sad
I was given the illusion of control, but in truth I was just watching an automatic process unfold. This is true for every action or decision I’ve ever made... This is true for every action or decision anyone has ever made... This is true of everything... Life has no dice roll, everything is set of a predetermined...
Pauses, thinks for a moment, then begins talking again. This time gaining enthusiasm and energy with each word
‘Sept, even as I sit here explaining my reasoning, I see a flaw in it. A fundamental problem that proves the whole thing moot... thinking this way is kind of depressing, isn’t it?
Gets up and begins to pace the room
If you were to go through life with the knowledge that everything was predetermined and that you were merely along for the ride, what would be the point in doing anything? Decisions are meaningless if you believe there are none, but who would want to spend time with a person who thought that way? Furthermore, even knowing this information I have trouble truly acting on it. I realize that even throughout this talk I’ve found myself using words such as chance or happen, words that suggest a randomness to life. And so I suppose I’ll choose not to care, as in the end nothing good can come of this. Aye, I choose not to care, I choose to throw to the wind the horrid truth I’ve found if favor of a blissful semi-ignorance, I choose to live a life less burdened with useless information, I choose happiness over nihilism! One might think me illogical for this, but if that is so the you mustn't hold a clinic over it, for clearly I had no choice in my decision to begin with!
Karen: ...But what about quantum mechanics?
Sheldon: ... oh, crud... well sorry for wasting your time, I’m going bed
Fin
In addition to writing the monologue, we had to record ourselves reading what we wrote. Below is my recording.
Nicholas Jennings
Monologue: The Nature of Free Will
Sheldon has just returned from a trip to buy groceries, whereupon he has discovered the true nature of free will. Excited by his revelation, he immediately tells his wife.
While putting groceries away
“Honey, I’m home! You’ll never guess what I discovered on my trip: the true nature of free will! The truth is that... wait, perhaps this would be better expressed if I tell you how I got to this point. So, I was walking down the driveway to our motorcar, I opened up the gate and felt the door knock against something - And you know Karen we really should find out a way to get a better view of what’s on the other side of that door - because when I checked what it was I found this little girl in some ridiculous antediluvian girl scout uniform lying on the ground. Naturally I asked if she was ok and she replied that she was and asked if I would like to buy some cookies, I swear the endurance on that child was impressive, why can’t Carol be more like that? That sort of dedication is the future of our country I tell you!.. Anyhow, I told her that I only had the money I was going to use for groceries but that I supposed this could take the place of my dessert money, and bought a couple of boxes, a pity purchase really. And as I walked to the motorcar, which was awkward because it was in the same direction the girl was headed. I started wondering if I really had to buy those cookies. I mean, clearly it was the moral thing to, but why not just be amoral for a bit and live with it?
Stops, looks at Karen then gets back to sorting groceries
After that fiasco was over with, I reached the store without any further incidents, which should be apparent as incidents on the road tend to result in severe bodily harm or an unstylish orange jumpsuit, neither of which I have. Upon my arrival I chanced upon a lady who was currently leaving the store. I would not have paid her mind, ‘sept she blurted out a call as we neared each other, and asked if I was shopping for breakfast cereal. I was confused, but answered truthfully that I was, whereupon she told me with dire certainty that I would purchase Crunchy Squares, and that I shouldn't feed them to my children because of their copious amount of sugar. Her advice did not bother me so much as her prediction. How could she know what I would choose, and how could she be sure that her advice wouldn’t change my decision? I was unable to ask these questions as she immediately ran off to her vehicle, however I would not be left wondering for long. ‘Soon as I entered the store I could see the barren shelves of the breakfast cereal isle, and upon closer examination I found the only boxes left were of the same cereal named beforehand! Had I been as knowledgeable in this issue as I am now I would’ve fallen to the ground and thanked the heavens for such a clear sign of the error in my line of thinking!.. Instead I grabbed a box for the kids and went to the dairy aisle to buy more butter for toast, Crunchy Squares taste awful, what else am I supposed to eat?
Finishes with groceries and sits on living room chair
Looking back on this moment in my journey, I find it almost humorous how close I was to the truth and yet how little I suspected my coming revelation. That moment came as I was leaving the store. I was walking past the service provider kiosk near the front of the store when I noticed an advertisement for cable television. The gist of the ad was that if you didn’t have cable you would have a different world view which would cause your friends to leave which would cause you to seek new friends and on and on until you end up in jail. This was clearly an exaggeration but I got me thinking about cause and effect and that’s how I got my epiphany: If everything is caused by something else and most things cause numerous other things, it stands to reason that everything has been determined from the beginning. For example: I bought Crunchy Squares because they were the only option left, this was caused by their competition being sold out. The competing cereals sold out because of a fresh new advertising campaign made by the large corporate merger that happened a few weeks ago between the competitions parent companies, which only happened because the CEO’s of both companies had grandchildren that went to the same elementary school, which was only built in a convenient position for both families because in 1997 the city council felt the need replace an older school whose structure was failing due to the poor quality of wood used by the original constructors back in the 1950’s, and on top of that all of this research will no doubt of caused us to be put on some sort of watch list!.. Sorry about that Karen.
Lies down on chair.
That’s not the only thing though, so far I’ve only covered large scale situation, but on a low scale level the same rule holds. A hundred identical motorcars heading towards another set of a hundred Identical motorcars with the exact same conditions every time will produce a hundred identical crash scenes. The laws of physics don’t change, and if the input conditions don’t either it makes sense that you would get the same output every time. The true revelation comes when you realize that our brain is fundamentally just a bunch of neurons sending signals to each other. Sure it’s an incredibly complicated system, but at the end of the day it should still follow the same rules as everything else. I didn’t buy cookies from that girlscout because I felt bad for hitting her in the face, I gave her cookies because when she asked if I wanted to buy some, information was sent to my brain, which led to a chain reaction of neurons firing that caused me to accept her offer.
slows down and gets very sad
I was given the illusion of control, but in truth I was just watching an automatic process unfold. This is true for every action or decision I’ve ever made... This is true for every action or decision anyone has ever made... This is true of everything... Life has no dice roll, everything is set of a predetermined...
Pauses, thinks for a moment, then begins talking again. This time gaining enthusiasm and energy with each word
‘Sept, even as I sit here explaining my reasoning, I see a flaw in it. A fundamental problem that proves the whole thing moot... thinking this way is kind of depressing, isn’t it?
Gets up and begins to pace the room
If you were to go through life with the knowledge that everything was predetermined and that you were merely along for the ride, what would be the point in doing anything? Decisions are meaningless if you believe there are none, but who would want to spend time with a person who thought that way? Furthermore, even knowing this information I have trouble truly acting on it. I realize that even throughout this talk I’ve found myself using words such as chance or happen, words that suggest a randomness to life. And so I suppose I’ll choose not to care, as in the end nothing good can come of this. Aye, I choose not to care, I choose to throw to the wind the horrid truth I’ve found if favor of a blissful semi-ignorance, I choose to live a life less burdened with useless information, I choose happiness over nihilism! One might think me illogical for this, but if that is so the you mustn't hold a clinic over it, for clearly I had no choice in my decision to begin with!
Karen: ...But what about quantum mechanics?
Sheldon: ... oh, crud... well sorry for wasting your time, I’m going bed
Fin
In addition to writing the monologue, we had to record ourselves reading what we wrote. Below is my recording.