Czar monologue (Act 1) — Vera; Or, The Nihilists

Ay! and when kings are God's scourges for the people. Oh, my own son, in my own house! My own flesh and blood against me! Take him away! Take him away! Bring in my guards. (_Enter the Imperial Guard. CZAR points to CZAREVITCH, who stands alone at the side of the stage._) To the blackest prison in Moscow! Let me never see his face again. (_CZAREVITCH is being led out._) No, no, leave him! I don't trust guards. They are all Nihilists! They would let him escape and he would kill me, kill me! No, I'll bring him to prison myself, you and I (_to PRINCE PAUL_). I trust you, you have no mercy. I shall have no mercy. Oh, my own son against me! How hot it is! The air stifles me! I feel as if I were going to faint, as if something were at my throat. Open the windows, I say! Out of my sight! Out of my sight! I can't bear his eyes. Wait, wait for me. (_Throws window open and goes out on balcony._)