Do the Monologues Promote Virtue?

The Monologues address a definite problem: violence against women. In order to judge how well they prevent violence against women let us first examine the source of this violence. Knowing the problem, we will be better able to formulate a solution. Then we can compare this proposed solution to the Monologue method.

The source of violence against women is men. A man violates a woman because he sees her as a source a pleasure, and he expects this source of pleasure to be available and subservient to his desires. The expectation is a perversion of the natural marital bond in which husband and wife form a self-giving union. The distorted view of women comes from a man’s upbringing and lust.
First, while a man is developing he realizes that he has a powerful sex drive. This can be developed in two ways with regard to women. He will either believe that this sex drive is intended for marriage and his wife, or he will believe that his sex drive is merely an appetite for pleasure which he fulfills through the use of women.

Second, in regards to lust, healthy men have a powerful sex drive. Even those men who believe that sex is something only appropriate to marriage, can at times be so blinded by lust that they have sex merely for its pleasure while forgetting the self-giving union intrinsic to conjugal love. Those men, on the other hand, who have never even considered sex as self-giving, will easily succumb to lust and will use any available woman that offers pleasure.

It seems, therefore, that lust is the problem underlying violence against women. Due to its effects, a man sees a woman as an object for pleasure and forgets her dignity as a person.
Now the question remains, how does a man overcome lust and order his appetites so that they do not lead him to violence against women? In terms of appetites, lust is a defect of the concupiscible appetite (the appetite for pleasure). The proper ordering of the concupiscible appetite is temperance. Education in temperance requires discipline by authority; growth of temperance within a person requires self-control. Discipline by authority requires that punishments be enforced upon those who do violence to women. Self-discipline in regards to the concupiscible appetites requires abstinence from unnecessary, and especially, inappropriate pleasures.

Growth in sexual temperance (chastity, continence, purity), therefore, requires that unnecessary erotic pleasures be eliminated, both those which are mental/visual and those which are physical. In the case of an unmarried man this would mean eliminating all erotic pleasures; in the case of a married man it would consist of reserving his desires for his wife alone and not forcing himself upon her when she is unwilling.

Therefore, to prevent violence against women, men should be punished for violating women, and they should be taught sexual temperance (chastity). Each man must ultimately decide for himself to live chastity but certain steps can be taken to promote this free choice. For example, this could be done by eliminating pornography and sexually suggestive material. Women, on their part, could act and dress modestly so as not to give a man an occasion for experiencing erotic pleasure in the fantasies of his mind, or worse, give a man an occasion for inappropriate physical pleasure.

Now it seems that the Monologues certainly support punishment for those men who abuse women. This is crucially important. However, punishment always follows the violation. Even though the men are punished, the women have already experienced the shame of abuse. Knowledge of a punishment does prevent some men from harming women, but, unfortunately, many women bear witness that it has not prevented all men from doing so. In order to further prevent violence, before it happens, men should not just be threatened with punishment but encouraged to live chastity, purity, and continence. This is where the Monologues fail.

The Monologues do not promote the aforementioned virtues because they violate modesty and decency which guard sexual temperance. The Monologues provide the audience with images of sexual experience which arouse their passions. This arousal causes lust which is the very source of sexual violence. Therefore, the Monologues seem to fail in their own objective.

Jake Nistler
Senior