11.16.2015

A Passage from The Designated Mourner

Reprinted without permission. I believe this is an important passage, especially given recent events in the world, where people are quick to judge good vs. bad, good vs. evil.

JACK: Well, what Martin did was very cowardly. Tom spoke out, and Martin just kept quiet and tried to protect himself.
HOWARD: But you see, there you're judging another human being. Aren't you? Jack?
JACK: Well, yes, I'm -
HOWARD: That's the thing that doesn't make sense to me. Because you're saying in effect - you're saying, in effect, that Tom behaved the way he should have behaved, but Martin didn't. Martin ought to have behaved differently from the way he did behave. So you're implying - what? - that you think you'd have behaved differently if you had been Martin?
JACK: No, I don't say I would have - maybe I would have, I don't know - but that's not the point.
HOWARD: It isn't?
JACK: No - I -
JUDY: What he really means is -
JACK: I mean, I'm simply saying that Martin might have acted in a better way.
HOWARD: But you see, that's where I become incredibly confused. Because I mean, if you were Martin, or if someone were Martin, and they'd had Martin's life and Martin's experiences, then why wouldn't they perceive the whole situation around them in exactly the way that Martin did, and act accordingly? And in that case, what's the point of condemning Martin? Because he couldn't help being what he was - and since he was what he was, he saw things the way he saw them, and he did what he did.

This is all I should really post without diving too deep into copyright infringement. And I'm sure I could argue Wallace Shawn's own point about identity against him to say that the Wallace Shawn who wrote this play and the Wallace Shawn now are two entirely different, unrecognizable people (as he expanded on in a BOMB magazine interview). Either way, this is one of my favorite plays of all time. As poignant today as when it was written twenty years ago.

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