Monologues for the "Dramatic Type" type
Classic monologues matched to the "Dramatic Type" acting type.
34 monologues
Hamlet
Hamlet · William Shakespeare
«To be, or not to be, that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of…»
'To be, or not to be' — the most famous speech in the repertoire: thought on the edge of life and death. Keep the clarity of thought; don't 'play' despair.
Macbeth
Macbeth · William Shakespeare
«Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not,…»
'Is this a dagger…' — the hallucination before the murder: horror, resolve, unravelling. Strong dramatic/villain material.
Lady Macbeth
Macbeth · William Shakespeare
«The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits…»
'Come, you spirits…' — a summons to darkness, unsexing herself for power. Cold force, not shouting.
Shylock
The Merchant of Venice · William Shakespeare
«He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my…»
'Hath not a Jew eyes?' — pain, dignity and the logic of revenge. Living grievance, not pathos.
Faustus
Doctor Faustus · Christopher Marlowe
«O Faustus, Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And then thou must be damn'd perpetually! Stand still,…»
The final hour before damnation: terror, pleading, despair. One of the great dramatic soliloquies.
Eliza Doolittle
Pygmalion · George Bernard Shaw
«And I can be civil and kind to people, which is more than you can. Aha! That's done you, Henry Higgins, it…»
Finding her own voice and dignity against Higgins: strength, hurt and liberation.
Angelo
Measure for Measure · William Shakespeare
«From thee, even from thy virtue! What's this, what's this? Is this her fault or mine? The tempter or the…»
A self-indicting soliloquy of the hypocrite waking to his own lust — play the horror at discovering himself.
Isabella
Measure for Measure · William Shakespeare
«Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, For every pelting, petty officer…»
A blazing rebuke of earthly authority abusing its power — build on rising righteous indignation.
Brutus
Julius Caesar · William Shakespeare
«It must be by his death: and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He…»
A model reasoner's soliloquy: an honest man talks himself into murder step by step — play the thought, not the rhetoric.
Mark Antony
Julius Caesar · William Shakespeare
«O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins…»
Alone with the corpse the mask drops — from grief to a prophecy of vengeance; build the rage, play the turn from mourning to war-lust.
Cassius
Julius Caesar · William Shakespeare
«Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and…»
Burning envy dressed as republican principle — the tempter working on Brutus; play the acid and the personal grievance beneath the politics.
Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra · William Shakespeare
«I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony: O, such another sleep, that I might see But such another man! His face…»
Take it for the apotheosis of love and grief: Cleopatra makes the dead Antony into a cosmic myth — play it on the edge of ecstasy and despair.
Hotspur
Henry IV, Part 1 · William Shakespeare
«My liege, I did deny no prisoners. But I remember, when the fight was done, When I was dry with rage and…»
Hotspur defending himself before the king — a hot-tempered, contemptuous account of the foppish lord; great for temperament and biting irony.
Prince Henry
Henry IV, Part 1 · William Shakespeare
«I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: Yet herein will I imitate the…»
The 'I know you all' soliloquy — the heir's calculated confession of his pretence; play cool self-control and a hidden plan.
Constance
King John · William Shakespeare
«Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends! Shall Lewis…»
A mother just told her cause is betrayed — play mounting disbelief and dread, clinging to hope until the last word.
King John
King John · William Shakespeare
«Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet, But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow, Yet it…»
The king coaxes Hubert toward murder without naming it — play the insinuating, midnight menace of the unspoken.
Leontes
The Winter's Tale · William Shakespeare
«Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the…»
Leontes' jealousy at full boil — each line speeds the paranoia; play the spiralling self-conviction, not the shouting.
Hermione
The Winter's Tale · William Shakespeare
«Since what I am to say must be but that Which contradicts my accusation and The testimony on my part no other…»
The slandered queen's courtroom defence — dignity and clear reason against tyranny; hold quiet strength, not complaint.
Paulina
The Winter's Tale · William Shakespeare
«What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? What wheels? racks? fires? what flaying? boiling? In leads or…»
Paulina hurls the queen's death at the tyrant — righteous fury unleashed; build relentlessly to the curse.
Lady Teazle
The School for Scandal · Richard Brinsley Sheridan
«Hear me Sir Peter—I came hither on no matter relating to your ward and even ignorant of this Gentleman's…»
The turning-point repentance after the screen falls: from coquette to candour, the wife's tenderness winning out over vanity.
Duchess
The Duchess of Malfi · John Webster
«The misery of us that are born great! We are forc'd to woo, because none dare woo us; And as a tyrant doubles…»
A high-born widow woos her own steward — play it as courage, tenderness and vulnerability at once, never coy.
Prospero
The Tempest · William Shakespeare
«I pray thee, mark me. I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated To closeness and the bettering of my…»
The deposed duke dissects how his own trust bred his brother's treachery — a reasoned indictment.
Edmund
King Lear · William Shakespeare
«Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of…»
The bastard's manifesto — play it as a seductive, lucid challenge to the social order.
Cordelia
King Lear · William Shakespeare
«I yet beseech your majesty,— If for I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not; since what I…»
The quiet dignity of a rejected daughter — play it restrained, tearless, anchored in truth.
Julia
Two Gentlemen of Verona · William Shakespeare
«Nay, would I were so anger'd with the same! O hateful hands, to tear such loving words! Injurious wasps, to…»
Having torn up Proteus's love letter in pique, she instantly repents and tenderly gathers the scraps bearing his name — a play of shame, love and wilful pride.
Proteus
Two Gentlemen of Verona · William Shakespeare
«To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; To wrong my friend, I shall…»
Newly smitten with Silvia, he sophistically justifies a threefold betrayal — of Julia, his friend, and his oath — then coolly plots his scheme.
Valentine
Two Gentlemen of Verona · William Shakespeare
«And why not death rather than living torment? To die is to be banish'd from myself; And Silvia is myself:…»
Banished by the Duke, he equates his very life with Silvia: to be parted from her is death itself. A lyrical lament of exile.
Marina
Pericles · William Shakespeare
«Why would she have me kill'd? Now, as I can remember, by my troth, I never did her hurt in all my life: I…»
An innocent girl pleads with her hired killer, cataloguing her harmlessness — play genuine bewilderment building into dread.
Aaron
Titus Andronicus · William Shakespeare
«Now climbeth Tamora Olympus' top, Safe out of fortune's shot; and sits aloft, Secure of thunder's crack or…»
Play the intoxication of ambition and predatory desire as the villain savours his mistress's rise and his own climb to power.
Tamora
Titus Andronicus · William Shakespeare
«Have I not reason, think you, to look pale? These two have 'ticed me hither to this place: A barren detested…»
Cold-blooded lie engineered to provoke murder: a fabricated tale of her own torment with which she sets her sons on to kill.
Katharina
The Taming of the Shrew · William Shakespeare
«Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow, And dart not scornful glances from those eyes, To wound thy…»
The famous final speech on a wife's duty — play it as submission, irony, or veiled defiance.
Vittoria Corombona
The White Devil · John Webster
«Humbly thus, Thus low to the most worthy and respected Lieger ambassadors, my modesty And womanhood I tender;…»
A woman on trial for her life refuses to grovel: she turns the courtroom into her stage and makes her accusers look small.
Beatrice-Joanna
The Changeling · Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
«This fellow has undone me endlessly; Never was bride so fearfully distress’d: The more I think upon th'…»
Play a gambler one beat before her move, not a weeping victim: the panic must pivot into predatory scheming the instant she spots the closet.
Helena
A Midsummer Night's Dream · William Shakespeare
«How happy some o'er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that?…»
Play the thought being born in real time, not a complaint: avoid self-pity, find the self-irony and the thrill of the moment her bad idea suddenly feels brilliant.