Act 5, Scene 3 Summary

Brand begins a long soliloquy by commenting on how the thought of sacrifice seems to have been too much for the villagers and how cowardice seems to no longer be a crime. He then talks about how he confronted his own fears by imagining the coming daylight, both spiritual and actual, and about how his belief in the coming light of God has been betrayed by the unwillingness of man to sacrifice. He talks about the misery of life and about mankind's ugliness, saying the future will only become worse. He becomes ironic as he comments that Christ's death must have been in vain if people aren't prepared to make themselves worthy of his sacrifice by making sacrifices themselves. As he wonders aloud whether all his life, his faith has been a mistake, an "invisible choir" sings to him that because...