THE LIBATION BEARERS – Orestes mourns his father. Dramatic Monologue For Teen/Young Adult Male. 2-3 Min.
ORESTES
Hermes, messenger to the dead, guardian
of your father’s powers, help rescue me
work with me, I beg you, now I’ve come back,
returned to this land from exile. On this grave,
on this heaped-up earth, I call my father,
imploring him to listen, to hear me . . .
Here’s a lock of hair, offering to Inachus,
the stream where I was raised. Here’s another,
a token of my grief. I was not there,
my father, to mourn your death. I couldn’t stretch
my hand out to you, when they carried off
your corpse for burial.
What’s this I see?
What’s this crowd of women coming here,
all wearing black in public? What does it mean?
What new turn of fate? Has some fresh sorrow
struck the house? Or am I right to think
they bring libations here to honour you,
my father, to appease the dead below?
That must be it. I see my sister there,
Electra. That’s her approaching with them.
She’s grieving in great pain that’s obvious.
O Zeus, let me avenge my father’s death.
Support me as my ally in this fight.
Pylades, let’s stand over there and hide,
so I can find out what’s taking place,
what brings these suppliant women here.
