Monologue from When We Dead Awakenby Henrik Ibsen
(Male – Drama - Period)
RUBEK: Come and live with us--in the villa. You can set your
swans swimming in the brook ... we can talk of old times ... you
can open all that is locked up in me--as you did in our days of
creation. I beg of you, Irene--give me this one chance to live my
life over again. Help me undo my greatest mistake. When you left,
Irene ... when you disappeared ... I cannot express to you ... I was
filled with such regret. I became painfully aware of all that I had
left unsaid ... all the moments I had allowed to pass ... without ...
without grasping them ... without ... I had come to think of you as
something sacred, you see ... something holy ... a gift from God ...
a creature of innocence not to be touched save in adoring thoughts.
A superstition took hold of me that if I touched you ... if I desired
you with my senses ... my soul would be desecrated, and I would
not be able to finish my work. I was a fool! An idealistic young
fool! I should have taken you in my arms right then and there--on
the floor of my studio, I should have taken you! With the clay still
on my fingers! It would only have added to the beauty of the child-to the depth and complexity of her meaning--of her mystery.
[Pause.] I can't lose you again, Irene--I don't think I could survive
it.
Monologue from Les Miserables
by Alain Boublil
(Male – Drama - Contemporary)
Marius: We can't strike. Why not? Because it's against the law to
strike! The king has declared that everything is a crime. Writing is
a crime. Two weeks ago, the police destroyed the Galaty, the
worker's newspaper. They smashed the press. They burned over
two thousand newspapers but that didn't satisfy the king. Three
days ago at a student meeting, a peaceful meeting, soldiers broke it
up and arrested two of my friends. Writing, talking, going to class,
speaking out is a crime. Being poor is a crime. Being poor is the
worst crime of all. And if you commit these crimes, you are
condemned for life. Our government has no mercy, no pity, no
forgiveness. And there's no work for us. And because there's no
work, our children are starving. Tell me: why are we powerless to
save the people we love? All of you know. Tell me - why? The
king betrayed us. We were promised the vote, do we have it? Do
we have the vote? Where is the republic our fathers died for? It's
here my brothers. It lives here in our heads. But most of all, best of
all, it's here in our hearts. In our hearts - WE ARE THE
REPUBLIC
Monologue from Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
(Male – Drama - Contemporary)
(Willy has big expectations of his son, Biff. Biff has been for a
job interview and stolen a pen.)
Biff: No! Nobody’s hanging himself, Willy! I ran down eleven
flights with a pen in my hand today. And suddenly I stopped, you
hear me? And in the middle of that office building, do you hear
this? I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw- the sky. I
saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and
the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and said to
myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to
become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office,
making a contemptuous begging fool of myself, when all I want is
out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why
can’t I say that, Willy?
I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were
never anything but a hard working drummer who landed in the ash
can like all the rest of them. I’m one dollar an hour, Willy! I tried
seven states and couldn’t raise it. A buck an hour! Do you gather
my meaning? I’m not bringing home any prizes anymore, and
you’re going to stop waiting for me to bring them home!
Monologue from Promedy
by Wade Bradford
(Male - Comedy - Contemporary)
(Dante is a rather goofy, overly dramatic vice-president of the
Student Body. During an ASB meeting, in front of his fellow
classmates, he decides to ask Kay, the text-messaging obsessed
cheerleader, to be his prom date.)
Dante: Kay, I know that you're one of the most popular girls in
school, and that you scarcely know how to pronounce my name, or
use proper grammar. But I've had a crush on you since the days
when you would ignore me in kindergarten all the way to this
afternoon when you ignored me in the cafeteria lunch line. Some
might say ours is a misunderstood romance. I remember in second
grade, I wrote you a note in Mrs. Souplanger's class. It said, "Do
you like me? Circle yes or no." My friends said you tore up the
note in disgust. But I knew you were ripping up confetti to
celebrate our newfound love. I know that you have been
pretending to ignore me all these years because secretly, deep
down, you know that you like me as much as I like you, probably
even more. Well, you don't have to be scared and shy any more.
I'm going to make both of our wishes come true. Will you go to the
prom with me?
(Dante reacts to her rejection.)
Should I take the rolling of your eyes as a "yes"?
Monologue from A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
(Male – Drama - Contemporary-)
Scrooge: (To the ghost.) Before I draw nearer to that stone to
which you point, answer me one question. Are these the shadows
of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May
be, only? Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if
persevered in, they must lead, but if the courses be departed from,
the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!
(Scrooge leans forward and reads his name upon the headstone.)
Am I that man who lay upon the bed? No, Spirit! Oh no, no! Spirit!
hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have
been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all
hope? Good Spirit, your nature intercedes for me, and pities me.
Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown
me, by an altered life! I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try
to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the
Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not
shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away
the writing on this stone!
Monologue from You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown
by Charles Schultz
(Male- Comedy- Contemporary)
Snoopy: (On top of his doghouse) Here's the World One I
flying ace high over France in his Sopwith Camel, searching
for the infamous Red Baron! I must bring him down!
Suddenly, anti-aircraft fire, 'archie' we used to called it,
begins to burst beneath my plane. The Red Baron has
spotted me. Nyahh, Nyahh, Nyahh! You can't hit me! (aside)
Actually, tough flying aces never say 'Nyahh, Nyahh, Nyahh'.
I just, ah...Drat this fog! It's bad enough having to fight the
Red Baron without having to fly in weather like this! All right,
Red Baron! Where are you? You can't hide forever! Ah, the
sun has broken through...I can see the woods of Montsec
below...and what's that? It's a Fokker triplane! Ha! I've got
you this time, Red Baron (SFX: machine gun fire) Aaugh!
He's diving down out of the sun! He's tricked me again! I've
got to run! Come on Sopwith Camel, let's go! Go, Camel, go!
I can't shake him! He's riddling my plane with bullets! (SFX:
machine gun fire) Curse you, Red Baron! Curse you and
your kind! Curse the evil that causes all this unhappiness!
(SFX: plane engine sputtering towards silence) Here's
the World War I flying ace back at the aerodrome in France,
he is exhausted and yet he does not sleep, for one thought
continues to burn in his mind...Someday, someday I'll get
you, Red Baron!
Monologue from GONE FISHIN’
by Todd McGinnis
(Male - Comedy - Contemporary)
HARRISON: Look, who's kiddin' who here? The lawyer told us
how much we're getting. And it wasn't much, was it? It wasn't
nearly what I figured the old guy had to be worth. Now I don't
know what Old Scrooge did with the rest of it but I'm hoping that
by the end of this fiasco I'm gonna find out that he had a huge stash
hidden away in a Swiss bank account or something. I'm here for
the same reason as you guys: to find out what I might get out it! Or
if there is anything left to get. So you can lay off with the
"respecting our dear-old-sainted- father's-final-wishes" crap. He
was a pushy, controlling old jerk. Now, maybe you've got nothing
to complain about 'cause after all you got the farm handed to you
on a silver platter--- [OH! I know. I know. You "bought and paid
for that place", right?] Yeah. And the value of the real estate alone
has practically... what? Doubled? Tripled? ...In the last fifteen
years? So I guess that was a real hardship wasn't it? But neither of
us ever had the chance to "buy" our share of the pie. We just have
to wait and see if the old man left us any more crumbs. That is if
there is anything left, after six months a year in Vegas for the last
five years. Hey! Who’s to say we're not gonna go through all this
crap only to find out that dear old Daddy didn't have a penny left?
Monologue from The Beggar’s Opera
by John Gay
(Male - Comedy - Period)
PEACHUM. But 'tis now high time to look about me for a decent
Execution against next Sessions. I hate a lazy Rogue, by whom one
can get nothing 'till he is hang'd. A Register of the Gang,
[Reading.] Crook-finger'd Jack. A Year and a half in the Service;
Let me see how much the Stock owes to his industry; one, two,
three, four, five Gold Watches, and seven Silver ones. A mighty
clean- handed Fellow! Sixteen Snuff-boxes, five of them of true
Gold. Six Dozen of Handkerchiefs, four silver-hilted Swords, half
a Dozen of Shirts, three Tye-Periwigs, and a Piece of Broad-Cloth.
Considering these are only the Fruits of his leisure Hours, I don't
know a prettier Fellow, for no Man alive hath a more engaging
Presence of Mind upon the Road. Wat Dreary, alias Brown Will,
an irregular Dog, who hath an underhand way of disposing of his
Goods. I'll try him only for a Sessions or two longer upon his
Good-behaviour. Harry Paddington, a poor petty-larceny Rascal,
without the least Genius; that Fellow, though he were to live these
six Months, will never come to the Gallows with any Credit.
Slippery Sam; he goes off the next Sessions, for the Villain hath
the Impudence to have Views of following his Trade as a Tailor,
which he calls an honest Employment. Mat of the Mint; listed not
above a Month ago, a promising sturdy Fellow, and diligent in his
way; somewhat too bold and hasty, and may raise good
Contributions on the Public, if he does not cut himself short by
Murder. Tom Tipple, a guzzling soaking Sot, who is always too
drunk to stand himself, or to make others stand. A Cart is
absolutely necessary for him. Robin of Bagshot, alias Gorgon, alias
Bluff Bob, alias Carbuncle, alias Bob Booty.