Monologues for the "Reasoner / Intellectual" type
Classic monologues matched to the "Reasoner / Intellectual" acting type.
22 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.
Portia
The Merchant of Venice · William Shakespeare
«The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it…»
'The quality of mercy is not strain'd…' — intellect, dignity and moral force.
Jaques
As You Like It · William Shakespeare
«All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances;…»
'All the world's a stage…' — the seven ages of man: a thinker's irony and observation.
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.
Algernon
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
«I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing…»
A paradox on love and proposals: lightness, irony, flawless timing. A short, winning comic piece.
Benedick
Much Ado About Nothing · William Shakespeare
«I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love,…»
Take it for the sworn bachelor mocking lovers; play it with cocky irony, reeling off his impossible checklist for a wife.
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.
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.
Domitius Enobarbus
Antony and Cleopatra · William Shakespeare
«I will tell you. The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten…»
The famous 'barge' description of Cleopatra: sensual word-painting — play a storyteller intoxicated by the very thing he describes.
Falstaff
Henry IV, Part 1 · William Shakespeare
«'Tis not due yet; I would be loath to pay him before his day. What need I be so forward with him that calls…»
The famous 'catechism' on honour — play it as a live argument with himself, irony and cowardice masked as common sense.
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.
The Bastard (Philip Faulconbridge)
King John · William Shakespeare
«Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, Hath willingly departed…»
A cynical anatomy of Commodity's grip on the world — play the witty bitterness that finally confesses its own price.
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.
Joseph Surface
The School for Scandal · Richard Brinsley Sheridan
«But my dear Lady Teazle 'tis your own fault if you suffer it—when a Husband entertains a groundless suspicion…»
The hypocrite's famous sophistry talking another man's wife toward betrayal by 'logic': silky charm over cold calculation.
Bosola
The Duchess of Malfi · John Webster
«He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow crooked over standing-pools; they are rich and o'erladen…»
The malcontent mercenary on the ingratitude of patrons and the cast-off soldier's fate; corrosive, biting bitterness.
Alfred Doolittle
Pygmalion · George Bernard Shaw
«Don’t say that, Governor. Don’t look at it that way. What am I, Governors both? I ask you, what am I? I’m one…»
A dazzling comic sophist's set-piece on the “undeserving poor” — play the charm and cheeky logic of a born chancer.
Henry Higgins
Pygmalion · George Bernard Shaw
«Well, I haven’t. I find that the moment I let a woman make friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting,…»
The self-satisfied bachelor-reasoner on women — dry wit, self-irony, crisp epigrammatic rhythm.
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.
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.
Cressida
Troilus and Cressida · William Shakespeare
«Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice, He offers in another's enterprise; But more in Troilus…»
A cool, clear-eyed credo of a woman who knows the rules of desire: play her intelligence and self-protection, not coquetry — the love is real, the mask is strategy.