“but if I started praying now, I'd feel like a hypocrite.”
Why it's great
He refuses prayer without sneering at faith; the honesty is what stings.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
If I sang along now, I'd feel like a hypocrite.
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Father Dupree Visits the Condemned, Explained
Paths of Glory · 1957
Chapter 13 of 17 · 2'51"
The night before the executions, Father Dupree visits the condemned men. One admits he would feel like a hypocrite if he prayed now; Arnaud, drunk, mocks the priest and calls his answers sanctimonious. "What are you hanging around for — to torture us?" he asks, before a fight leaves him with a fractured skull.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:27–1:18
A Prisoner Refuses Confession
50s - 1:35–1:57
Arnaud Rages at the Priest
22s
Father Dupree Visits the Condemned, explained
What happens
On the last night before the executions, Father Dupree visits the three condemned soldiers. One tells him he is not religious and would feel like a hypocrite praying now. Arnaud, drunk, taunts the priest with a mock prayer to a bottle, and a scuffle leaves him with a fractured skull that may kill him before morning.
What's really going on
The scene sets faith and despair face to face in a waiting room for death. The priest offers confession and simple comfort — 'God is always ready to listen to your prayers' — and one prisoner refuses politely because praying now would make him a hypocrite. Arnaud takes the opposite route, turning a bottle into an altar and mocking the priest outright: "What are you hanging around for — to torture us?" The cruelty is that the army has already decided a man with a fractured skull will still be carried out and shot at dawn. The priest's faith can promise eternity, but it cannot change the schedule, and everyone in the cell knows it.
Key lines & what they mean
- “but if I started praying now, I'd feel like a hypocrite.”
- The prisoner's honest refusal of a deathbed conversion: praying now would only be play-acting.
- “O Great Bottle, forgive me my sins, for now I lay me down to sleep, Bo peep.”
- Arnaud's drunken parody of a prayer, swearing to a bottle as if it were God.
- “What are you hanging around for — to torture us?”
- Arnaud's accusation that the priest's presence only adds to their suffering.
- “That's a nasty skull fracture though. He may not live out the night.”
- The doctor's grim verdict: the injured man may die on his own before the firing squad can shoot him.
- “I'm sorry, Father. The sentence will be carried out.”
- The officer's answer to any hope of mercy: the execution will happen regardless of Arnaud's condition.
- “Surely they won't execute a man in that condition.”
- The chaplain's disbelief that the army would shoot a man too badly hurt to stand.
Theme
- Faith — The priest offers confession and salvation while the condemned men face death, and one answers with a bottle as an altar.
- Death & grief — The last night turns into drinking, rage, and a fatal scuffle as the men wait to be executed at dawn.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
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Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“O Great Bottle, forgive me my sins, for now I lay me down to sleep, Bo peep.”
Why it's great
A prayer and a nursery rhyme mashed together: the joke is how much he needs the bottle.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
O Great Coffee, forgive me my sins; I am on my fourth cup.
“What are you hanging around for — to torture us?”
Why it's great
He recasts the priest's kindness as torture, and the accusation lands hard.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
What are you hanging around for — to make it worse?
“That's a nasty skull fracture though. He may not live out the night.”
Why it's great
The clinical tone makes a death sentence sound like a weather report.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
With that fever, he may not live out the night.
“I'm sorry, Father. The sentence will be carried out.”
Why it's great
Paperwork politeness kills the plea: the sentence stands no matter what.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
I'm sorry, but the decision will be carried out.
“Surely they won't execute a man in that condition.”
Why it's great
He bets on common decency, and the audience already knows the bet will lose.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
Surely they won't cancel the match in this weather.
Up next · 14nothing to itThe scene: Dax Makes Roget Command the Firing SquadTakeaways
What you walk away with- Paris refuses to fake faith and keeps his dignity.
- The bottle prayer is comedy built out of fear.
- Arnaud's rage turns on himself, not the priest.
- The order to execute is delivered like office paperwork.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does the prisoner refuse confession?
He says he is not very religious and that starting to pray now would make him feel like a hypocrite. The priest replies that God is always ready to listen.
Why does Arnaud mock the priest?
He is drunk and despairing. He turns a bottle into a joke altar and calls the priest's answers sanctimonious, asking whether he has come only to torture them.
What happens to Arnaud?
During a scuffle he is struck and suffers a fractured skull. The doctor says he may not live out the night.
What does "hold out" mean here?
It means to last or keep going. One soldier asks Ferol whether he is afraid his luck will not hold out, meaning his luck may run out at the execution.
Will Arnaud still be executed?
Yes. The officer says the sentence will be carried out and that, if Arnaud is still alive in the morning, he is to be made conscious for the firing squad.