#bsm11

Behold... the ultimate contest, to determine the one true monologue to rule them all!

Over the next few weeks, I will be running 8 tournaments to determine the best/most popular monologue in the whole show.

There will be 8 bracket tournaments.

TOURNAMENT 1: MINOR CHARACTERS' MONOLOGUES

berringer, dufresne, blackbeard, featherstone, garrett, idelle, mr.mccoy, mrs. guthrie, muldoon, ned lowe, oglethorpe, thomas hamilton, morley

TOURNAMENT 2: SECONDARY CHARACTERS' MONOLOGUES

billy, gates, israel hands, julius, maroon queen, miranda, mr.scott, woodes rogers

TOURNAMENT 3: SECONDARY MAIN CHARACTERS' MONOLOGUES (2 WINNERS)

anne, vane, eleanor, jack

TOURNAMENT 4: SILVER'S MONOLOGUES

TOURNAMENT 5: MADI'S MONOLOGUES

TOURNAMENT 6 : MAX'S MONOLOGUES

TOURNAMENT 7: FLINT'S MONOLOGUES

TOURNAMENT 8:

winner of tournament 1, winner of tournament 2, 2 winners of tournament 3, silver's winning monologue, madi's winning monologue, max's winning monologue, flint's winning monologue

Attached below is the bracket setup for Tournament One, which will go live Friday, February 17th, at 5 PM EST. Each poll will contain the full text of both monologue options. Every successive poll will go live at approximately 5 PM EST.

LINK TO POLLS FOR MONOLOGUOLYMPICS 1.1

LINK TO ALL POLLS FOR MONOLOGUOLYMPICS

(All posts related to the monologuolympics will be tagged #bsm. Posts will also be tagged in accordance to their situation within the tournament: for example, bracket one round one posts will be tagged #bsm11, bracket five round two posts will be tagged #bsm52, etc.)

Monologuolympics Bracket One Round One Matches:

Idelle: "You killed my friend" (408) vs Morley: "The Barlow woman's agenda" (104)

Featherstone: "And with the stroke of a pen, it's all gone as if it never existed." (305) VS Blackbeard: "A man puts a dead thing in the ground, he expects it to stay there." (302)

Berringer: "The time calls for dark men to do dark things." (403) VS Ned Lowe: "I make the men feel better about themselves." (201)

Oglethorpe: "What's to be done with the unwanted ones?" (410) VS Mr.McCoy: "Hold onto this for as long as you can."  (409)

Garrett: "Part of what you built, it worked too well." (405) VS Dufresne: "Is it possible a man could do such a thing?" (203)

Mrs.Guthrie: "It's the wrong river and the wrong woman, but perhaps to get even this close to a fantasy is something." (408) VS Abigail: "It would seem these monsters are men." (208)

Blackbeard: "There is no forever." (301) VS Featherstone: "I remember what you did for me." (406)

8/8: Thomas Hamilton vs. Muldoon

Thomas Hamilton, to the Lords, in 204: "Absolution. A clean slate for all those willing to accept it. A few hours ago, I informed my father that this was my intended solution for the pirate issue on New Providence Island. We've talked in this room, you and I, about reason. We've talked about justice. We've talked about virtue and the right. We've talked and talked. And now, perhaps, it is time to do that which we've only spoken about behind closed doors. I am committed to this end. But it is a long road and I will need your help to see it through."

Muldoon, to Silver, in 303: "They say the worst of it don't last long. What the water does to you once it's got you. It makes you cold, makes you scared. It shows you things. Bad things. But then it warms you. It settles you. It shows you the places you've been. Like the people you've loved. They're all there waiting for you. It doesn't sound so bad.”

1/8: Idelle vs Morley

Idelle, to Anne, 408: “You killed a friend of mine. Her name was Charlotte… and you did it for reasons that had nothing to do with her. There were men I knew that would've killed you for me. I wanted to ask them. Had the money. But Max refused. I couldn't tell then if it was… because she was afraid of you. Wouldn't have blamed her. I was. Or if it was something else. But I respected her wishes. Obeyed when she said we'd protect you despite what you'd done. Do you know why? Because despite the world reminding her every day of her life that she's undeserving of being given anything by it, that she was unworthy of what little she'd managed to take from it… despite all of that, she never believed a word of it. That woman has been fighting the whole goddamn world since the day she was born. She's a breath away from winning that fight. For whatever reason, she wants to share the spoils with you. And you'd walk away. You killed my friend. I wanted you to know that.”

VS

Morley, to Billy, 104: "Number of years back, before you crewed up with us, Flint had us hunting a merchant ship, the Maria Aleyne. Sephardic trade... gold, pearls, jewels. "More than we'd ever know what to do with," he said. But that's Flint's gift, isn't it? Always knows just what to say to push us harder, further, make us all pull together for the cause. We tracked that bitch for months without refitting or careening, till finally we spotted her. We lost good men taking her for a haul nowhere near what Flint had promised. While I was exploring the hold, I chanced upon a cabin and that's when I heard it. 'Twas a man and a woman begging for their lives. "Spare us, and our fortune's yours." For a moment, I thought all our shares were gonna be worth a whole lot more. But that's when the screams began. And when I watched the murderer leave, I saw him plain. Gates was unmoved, to say the least. "Just one rich bastard less in the world," he said. At the time, I'll admit, I took his point. But days later we come ashore. I see a lady waiting for Flint. The rest of the crew thought she's just some fancy bit of Puritan tail. But when Flint reaches her, two words escape his lips. "They're dead." Hunting the Maria Aleyne was never about money. It was an execution. All those men we lost taking her, they died so Flint could settle some personal vendetta for her. You watch. Good men will die for some hidden agenda. The Barlow woman's agenda. Mark my words, Billy. It's all happening again."

4/8: Oglethorpe vs. Mr. McCoy

Oglethorpe, in 410: “What's to be done with the unwanted ones? The men who do not fit, whom civilization must prune from the vine to protect its sense of itself. Every culture since earliest antiquity has survived this way, defining itself by the things it excludes. So long as there is progress, there will always be human debris in its wake, on the outside looking in. And sooner or later, one must answer the question… what becomes of them? In London, the solution is to call them criminals. To throw them in a deep, dark hole and hope it never runs over. I would argue that justice demands we do better than that. That a civilization is judged not by who it excludes, but by how it treats the excluded.”

Mr.McCoy, to Jack, in 409: “One day, you'll leave the account. Take a wife, father children. See less and less of the sea until she becomes like a painting hanging on the wall, static and irrelevant... to your daily existence. But she'll keep on calling you. And when she does, you'll step into that painting and feel the swell beneath your feet. It'll all come back as if it were like yesterday. […] I've watched you and yours handle the account since I and mine left it. Accomplish things that no one I ever sailed with could dream of. From what I've overheard, if you reach Skeleton Island, might mean the end of the governor. Maybe keep the account alive a little while longer. Is that so? […] Then I'll take you to it. Hold on to this for as long as you can, for all of us who once had it... and walked away.”

5/8: Garrett vs. Dufresne

Garrett, to Billy, in 405: "You built all of this. The resistance. It wouldn't have worked without you. But part of what you built, it worked too well. Long John Silver. He said the reason Flint's fleet never got warning of the barricade in the harbor wasn't because Mr. Featherstone didn't relay it… wasn't because Max intercepted it. He said it was because you never sent it in the first place. I don't think anyone actually believed it. You weren't indicted based on the facts, or our suspicions of your motives. He just said it. Only, no one had the balls to defy him. I told them… I should be the one to do it. If it was gonna happen, I thought it should be a friend. But fuck it. I won't do it. You've all forgotten your oaths. They were given to this man… when that man was just a fiction. To hell with all of you who can't tell the difference! To hell with all of you!”

Dufresne, to Flint, in 203: "I suppose you warned me… didn't you? To avoid that course through the shipping lanes. Perhaps it was my hubris that drove me to it. To show you I had it in me to lead. But as I sit here, I'm forced to consider another possibility. That course we charted… perhaps none of us would have thought of it at all had you not raised it in the first place. That you orchestrated it all. The deaths, the destruction, the loss. All to achieve this very moment. Is it possible a man could do such a thing? Congratulations, Captain."

2/8: Featherstone vs Blackbeard

Featherstone, to Idelle, 305: “I do solemnly swear. Signed my name, and my account with the law is now square. A few hours ago, any magistrate in the Empire would have hanged me without hesitation. Children would have cheered, women would have taken comfort… one less villain in the world. Men would have looked on in awe, wondering what adventures and mischief they'd missed in their lives that I'd lived in mine. And with the stroke of a pen, it's all gone as if it never existed, rendering me nothing more than a humble tavern bookkeeper. I sincerely hope this doesn't diminish your attraction to me.”

Blackbeard, to Vane, 302: “A man puts a dead thing in the ground, he expects it to stay there. Sometimes it comes back. I harbored such resentment in that moment all those years ago when you turned your back on me... though I sailed countless leagues with you, fought countless battles with you, taught countless lessons to you... and you did it all for a girl. […] For years, I've laid my head down at night, and no matter where I was, there was an odor would arrive at my nose... Brine and hides and pitch and shit. The perfume of this place. Across eight years and as many wives and... so many distractions. Oh, then I meet wife number nine. And to my surprise, I stop thinking about Nassau. The smell goes away. For almost three weeks. And then news comes across my door that there are no more Guthries in Nassau. One dead, the other in chains. It seemed a sign it was time I returned.”

6/8: Mrs. Guthrie vs Abigail

Mrs. Guthrie, to Max, about Eleanor, in 408: “Her grandfather disowned her some time ago, assumed she'd simply become one with the wild men. When the trial began and Guthrie became a contemptible name to utter in London, didn't help matters. But I held out hope from the beginning. A fantasy that despite what we'd heard of her, she was learning, growing. And that someday, she'd seek me out and…a woman who reminded me of myself when I was younger would arrive in Boston and… I'd walk the Charles with her and… teach her the things a woman can do in this world. It's the wrong river and the wrong woman, but perhaps to get even this close to a fantasy is something."

Abigail, in 208: "From across an ocean, it is hard to know what the New World is. All I knew were the stories I was told of monsters and valiant men sworn to slay them. But now that I've nearly traversed the ocean that separates New World from old, I fear that the stories I've heard may have clouded the truth more than clarified it. It would seem these monsters are men-- Sons, brothers, fathers. And it would seem these men fear their own monsters-- An empire… a navy… a king. My father. So much I've left behind me-- London, my youth, and comfortable stories. So much lies ahead in Charles Town-- A future and harder truths. I feel I must face it honestly, bravely. I must face it as my father's daughter, and I believe that in order to do that, I have to tell these people that which I've kept from them. I have to tell them what I know."

7/8: Blackbeard vs. Featherstone

Blackbeard, in 301: "I understand your anger, but I've lived long enough to know that any promise made beside the word "forever" is no more than a lie agreed upon. There is no forever. Everything moves towards its end. And the closer we get to ours, the louder that clock ticks, the less a sane man would let a promise deprive him of happiness."

Featherstone, to Max, in 406: "Seems a fair amount of resentment towards you these days. I just want you to know… that I remember what you did for me. Standing up to Captain Berringer. Jack can be angry. Anne can be angry. But…but I remember the good you've done, too.”