Female monologues
Female monologues from the Russian classics.
29 monologues
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.
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.
Juliet
Romeo and Juliet · William Shakespeare
«Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner As Phaethon would whip you to…»
'Gallop apace…' — the impatience of young love: pure ardour and longing.
Viola
Twelfth Night · William Shakespeare
«I left no ring with her: what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her! She made good…»
'I left no ring with her…' — realising she's been fallen for, and her own tangle: wit, humour, charm.
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.
Beatrice
Much Ado About Nothing · William Shakespeare
«What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much? Contempt,…»
A short verse soliloquy — the witty sparrer caught by real feeling; play the proud mask cracking into tenderness.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Olivia
Twelfth Night · William Shakespeare
«'What is your parentage?' 'Above my fortunes, yet my state is well: I am a gentleman.' I'll be sworn thou…»
Olivia catches herself falling in love at first sight — play the surprise and surrender to the feeling.
Lady Bracknell
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
«The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To…»
The iconic hand-bag put-down — play monumental self-assurance and lethal social logic with total deadpan gravity.
Gwendolen
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
«Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more…»
A love declaration aimed at the name 'Ernest': earnest ardour on an absurd premise—comedy mined from total sincerity.
Cecily
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
«Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and…»
Cecily recounts an engagement she invented entirely: dreamy naivety delivered as established fact—pure ingénue comedy.
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.
Miranda
The Tempest · William Shakespeare
«I do not know One of my sex; no woman's face remember, Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen More…»
The innocent heroine confesses love for the first time — chaste, candid, without coquetry.
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.
Goneril
King Lear · William Shakespeare
«Not only, sir, this your all-licensed fool, But other of your insolent retinue Do hourly carp and quarrel;…»
Goneril goes on the offensive against her father — play it cold, with calculated menace masked as concern.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lydia Languish
The Rivals · Richard Brinsley Sheridan
«Why, is it not provoking? when I thought we were coming to the prettiest distress imaginable, to find myself…»
A perfect comic ingenue piece: play her despair absolutely sincerely — the joke is that her tragedy is getting everything she should want; don't wink at the audience.