GRADE 8 ELOCUTION PIECE

The Despair of Judas

I will rest awhile. His face! His face, not comely now. There is no beauty in it. It is scarred
into my heart. It is burned into my soul, and never will it lift from me until I die. Die? Will
death quench the flames which consume me? Traitor, not endless years in hell will pay the
crime of murdering the Son of God.

And last night, He dealt with me so gently. He washed my feet. He bade me to put my hand
into the cup with His, while in my purse, there jingled the coins that bought His blood. “It
were better for that man that he had never been born!” Who? Who but I! I, who betrayed
Him.

“What you do, do quickly.” He knew, and kept my sin a secret. “Friend, for what purpose
have you come? Judas, do you betray the Son of God with a kiss?” Friend! He called me His
friend! The man I betrayed called me His friend. How hell must have laughed. Why did not
the sea overwhelm me? Friend, ha! ha! ha! Friend, ha! ha! ha! The world will know Judas
the friend. The world will point to Judas, as a by-word and as pledge of broken faith!

“Do you think, Judas, that you can hide from the Father of your friend, Jesus?” Not even in
hell can I escape. Not in the grave for the earth would spurn my corpse. Not in heaven for
see heaven, and Jesus, the Friend, will be there!

What hope for Judas… What hope for Judas… Not even in hell can I escape, for He called me
devil and the devils cried out, “Torment us not Jesus!” Judas, faithless friend, devil, one for
whom it would have been better not to have been born. There is no hope for you, no hope,
ha! ha! ha! No hope, no hope!
 GRADE 8 ELOCUTION PIECE

The Progress of Madness

Stay jailer, stay and hear my woe! I am not mad who kneel to you, for what I am
now, too well I know, what I was and what I should be. I’ll rave no more in proud despair;
my language shall be mild though sad, but I firmly truly swear, I am not mad; I am not mad.

My tyrant foes have forged the tale which chains me now in this dismal cell! My fate
unknown, my friends bewail. Oh, jailer, haste that fate to tell! Oh! Haste my father’s heart
to cheer. His heart at once will grieve and be glad to know though chained and captive here,
I am not mad; I am not mad!

He smiles in scorn; he turns the key; he quits the grate; I kneel in vain! His
glimmering lamp – still, still I see - ! ‘tis gone – and all is gloom again. Cold! Bitter cold! No
warmth, no light! Life – all the comforts once I had. Yet here I’m chained in this freezing
night, although not mad. No, no, not mad!

“Tis sure some dream – some vision vain! What? I, the child of rank and wealth! Am I
the wretch who clanks this chain bereft of freedom, friends and health? Ah, while I dwell on
blessing fled which never more my heart must be glad, how aches my heart; how burns my
head. I will be free – unbar the door! I am not mad; I am not mad!

Oh, hark! What mean those yells and cries? His chain! Some furious madman breaks!
He comes! I see his glaring eyes. Now, now, my dungeon grate he shakes!

He’s gone! Oh, fearful woe! Such screams to hear, much sight to see. My brain, my
brain, I know; I know I am not mad, but soon will be. Yes, soon for lo! Now, while I speak,
hark! How his demon’s eyeballs glare! He sees me. Now with dreadful shrieks, he whirls a
serpent high in the air! Horror! The reptile strikes his teeth deep in my heart so crushed and
sad! Ah, laugh you friends; I feel the truth; your task is done; I am mad: ha! ha! ha! ha! I am
mad!!!
 GRADE 8 ELOCUTION PIECE

Cadaver
(An Adaptation from Alberto S. Florentino’s Cadaver)

So, I’m mad, huh? So I’m in a delirium. I’ll tell her what kind of business we have,
Carding. It’s a business that requires no capital. All you need is a good, strong stomach.

Why? Are you ashamed to let others know that the dead have been supporting you
all along. And you Marina, do you want to know where the money I bring here come from?
Do you believe I really earned it by breaking my back at the waterfront? Hah! I’ve fooled you
so well. You never even suspected.

To put it plainly, I robbed the dead around us. I forced to open the graves of the
dead. And why not? Rich people are always buried with something valuable on them. Rings,
earrings, necklaces, and gold teeth. They let such treasures rot under the ground while
above that ground people like us are starving.

Yes, I did. You can ask Carding. He was with me all the time. At first he was scared to
death. He would tremble and perspire. And later on he had to, because he had to eat even
from a dead man’s hand. When he tries to rob the living he always get caught. He’s too slow
for them. The dead don’t fight back. They don’t report to the police. They don’t even
scream.

I hate them! That’s why I rob them. I hate them! Look at them. Doesn’t that sight
infuriate you? Look, nothing worries them. They lie there day and night, sleeping like babies,
mocking our sufferings!

One night, as I was coming home, a strong rain caught me. I ran for shelter to the
nearest tomb. That one near the road belonging to a dead Chinese millionaire. The tomb
was so beautiful! With thick marble walls and roofs and festive lights. Inside was a body in
coffin; it was dry in the rain and comfortable even in death, while I was outside, soaked to
the bone and shivering in the cold, waiting to go home to a dark, dark place with a
cardboard roof that leaks even in the lightest rain. Why should that dead merchant gave
thick walls and roofs to protect him? Why? He’s dead and I’m alive. I have more right on the
thongs wasted on him. Don’t you think so? Don’t you think we need thick walls more than
the dead?

But it’s useless talking to you. You really want to get rid of me, don’t you? Now I see
that you, too, have been waiting for me to die. Maybe, that’s why a little wound like this can
put me to bed. You’re praying, praying that I will die. But I’ll disappoint both of you. I will
live on and on, if only to punish you with my presence. I’m still young. I have a hundred
years before me. Not all the dead in the world can drag me to the grave!

Take me if you can! I despise you all. Oh! I hope you were all alive now and suffering
in life. I despise you!
 GRADE 8 ELOCUTION PIECE

Satan’s Threat
Dr. Jose Rizal

Don’t you know me? Look at me well. I am he who in fairer age ruled with grandeur
and power - venerated and feared, the absolute god of the Filipinos. As long as your people,
faithful to my holy cult, said their prayers before me, I saved them a thousand times from
death, hunger and fear. Your fields overflowed with fragrant greenery. The golden grain
sprouted without labor from the hollowed earth, then undefiled. The rave secluded in its
nest did not cry sad omens of terrible calamities. But now, your rich land, disconsolate and
afflicted, groans under the rule of the alien people and slowly dies at the impious hands of
the conqueror. But, I shall liberate it, if you bend the knee to my cult which shines with
splendor still. So powerful am I that at this very moment, I shall give you everything you may
desire, if you only adore me. But, woe unto you if you are blind and distrustful, for I shall
open at your feet the deep abyss.

Ah! The future shall bring the disasters I reserve for your race, which follows this
profane Catholic religion: tragic calamities, pestilence, wars and cruel invasions by various
nations in coming ages not far distant. Your people will water with their own blood and
tears the thirsty sand of their native land. I, in my vengeance shall unloose the untamed
winds which with ferocious rage shall make the elements run riot. I shall raze the green
fields of their best grain, and from the fatal summit of the proud mountain, I shall hurl a
burning river of lava which shall desolate towns like a furious torrent which shall uproot
unnumbered trees. Behold and note that I am Satan! The angel who in an age remote sat
splendidly upon a throne, his brow magnificent with light. I am he who, with ferocious
rancor gave battle to heavens tyrant, vanquished in battle, I dragged your ancestors with me
to their souls’ death. But if the Christians’ lofty faith has prevailed against my fury, I shall
avenge that mortal injury on you. I am the stronger, and if you do not wish to die, then fall
at my feet.