The Condemned, a Monologue

Monologue: An assassin's last words before he/she is executed for killing "the most hated man in the nation."
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

The Condemned, a Monologue

Recommended by

  • Jack Levine:
    28 Oct. 2021
    FRANCIS BOYLE’s monologue, “The Condemned”, is powerful not only for what it says about the condemned but also our society. We may wish someone dead. We may openly talk about our hope this person is killed. But, our society will not, should not, condone murder.
  • Dave Osmundsen:
    26 Jan. 2020
    A short but potent indictment of a fickle culture that seems to be intent on hating both its incompetent leaders and those who actually do something about them. The speaker may be condemned, but he also condemns society for its capriciousness.
  • Doug DeVita:
    26 Jan. 2020
    Be careful what you wish for, because you just may get it. And Francis Boyle's "The Condemned, a Monologue" imagines just such a scenario with our current national crisis, with all the attendant hypocrisy flurrying about the actions of the titular monologist. The genius of Boyle's work is that he has presented it all so clearly, so dispassionately, and so powerfully. A truly stunning, necessary work.