Dramatic Monologue 1 min 30 sec

A Midsummer Nights Dream

Act 3, Scene 2
HELENA
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me for your merriment.
If you were civil and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia,
And now both rivals to mock Helena
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maids eyes
With your derision! None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
A poor souls patience, all to make you sport.

Comedic Monologue 2 mins.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Act 1, Scene 2
JULIA:
This babble shall not henceforth trouble me.
Here is a coil with protestation! (Tears the letter)
O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!
Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey
And kill the bees that yield it with your stings!
I'll kiss each several paper for amends.
Look, here is writ 'kind Julia': unkind Julia!
As in revenge of thy ingratitude,
I throw thy name against the bruising stones,
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.
And here is writ 'love wounded Proteus':
Poor wounded name! My bosom, as a bed
Shall lodge thee till thy wound be thoroughly heal'd;
And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.
But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down:
Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away
Till I have found each letter in the letter
Except mine own name; that some whirlwind bear
Unto a ragged, fearful-hanging rock,
And throw it thence into the raging sea!
Lo! Here in one line is his name twice writ,
'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia': that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, sith so prettily
He couples it to his complaining names:
Thus will I fold them one upon another:
Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.

Comedic Monologue - 2 mins

A Midsummer Nights Dream
Act 1, Scene 1
HELENA: How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know.
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities.
Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste;
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste.
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.
For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia's eyne,
He hailed down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and show'rs of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight.
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.

But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

To have his sight thither and back again.

The Casket Comedy 2 mins

HALISCA: If heaven doesn't rescue me, I'm dead and done for, with not a soul to look to for aid! Oh,
how miserable my own heedlessness makes me! Oh! how I dread what will happen to my back, if my
mistress finds out I've been so negligent! [thinking] Surely I had that little casket in my hands and
received it from her here in front of the house--and where it is now I don't know, unless I dropped it
somewhere about here, as I suspect. [to audience] Dear gentlemen, do tell me if anyone of you saw
him, the man who carried it off. Did he go [pointing] this way, or that? [pauses, then
indignantly] I'm none the wiser for asking or pestering them--the creatures always enjoy seeing a
woman in trouble! Now I'll [scans the ground] examine the footprints here, in case I can find any.
For if no one passed by after I went inside, the casket would be lying here. [looking about again,
then hopelessly.] Not a trace of it, and there won't be a trace left of me, either! Oh, my heart's in a
flutter and my back's in a fright--fear on both sides driving me frantic! What poor, poor things
human beings are! Now he's happy, whoever he is, that has it--something that's no use to him and
the death of me! But I'm delaying myself by not setting to work. To work, Halisca! Eyes on the
ground, eyes down! Track it--sharp now--like an augur! [looks for footprints, her nose close to the
ground] He went this way . . . here's the mark of a shoe in the dust . . . I'll follow it up this way! Now
here's where he stopped with someone else . . . Here's the scene of some sort of fracas . . . No, he
didn't go on this way . . . from here he went over there . . . A consultation was held here . . . There are
two people concerned, that's clear as day . . . Aha! Just one person's tracks! . . . He went this way
From here he went over here . . . from here he went-- [after an energetic and futile
search] nowhere! [with wry resignation] It's no use. What's lost is lost--the casket and my cuticle
together.

And Turning, Stay

Kellie Powell
Dramatic Contemporary Monologue
Amy: Don't you dare walk away from me! And don't tell me you're sorry! And don't
tell me to forget it, and don't you dare tell me to "let it go." God knows, I'd like to. I
wish I could, but I can't! I can't forget that we had something, and you're running
away. You're running away! Don't you see, Mark? You're running from what I've
searched for all my life! Why, because you're scared? Well, I'm scared too, but you
and I - we have something worth fighting for. We could make it work, I'm not saying
it would be easy, but I care about you. And I know deep down, under this (Spitting
out the word.) bravado, you care about me. And that's what it's all about, Mark,
don't you get it? It's the human experience. You can pretend all you want, but you're
only lying to yourself. You're denying the simple and wonderful fact that you are
emotional, and vulnerable, and alive. Can you honestly stand there and tell me that
I mean nothing to you? That everything that happened that night was a lie? That
you feel nothing? (AMY is crying or close to it. The following is a painful statement
that she makes not to attack or threaten Mark but rather, to allow herself closure
with the situation.) I feel sorry for you, Mark. I'll move on. I'll find someone else. I'll
be all right, because I will know that I tried. That I did everything I could. But
someday you will look back, and you will realize what you threw away. And you will
regret it always.