Maya: http://www.monologuearchive.com/h/hill_001.

html ROULETTE A monologue from the play by Douglas Hill

NOTE: This monologue is reprinted with the author's permission. All inquiries should be directed to the author atdoug.hill@ccmail.nevada.edu JANINE: [Outraged] See? I knew you would do this. I knew you would have no reaction at all. The one thing that ought to matter to youthe one thing you have left and I can't even get you to say a word. Maybe you're just too lazy to care. Or too lazy to work up a response. Well, that's been the problem all along. So this is probably for the best. Right? [Beat.] Well, let me spell something out for you. If you were worth more to this marriage, this marriage would be worth more to you. [She EXITS the bedroom. MATT remains looking after her. After a moment, he reacts as if he's heard something. He listens intently. Then, from offstage:] I'm calling Marcy. She's got an extra bedroom. I can spend the night there. I know you don't care, but [MATT pulls a suitcase from under the bed, opens it, and begins packing his clothes. From offstage:] Damn. It's busy.[Silence as MATT continues to pack. Then:] You ate the last of the salt and vinegar chips, didn't you? You couldn't go get your own bag from the store. You had to eat mine. goddamnit. [The sound of a cupboard door slamming shut.] Those were mine, Matt. You don't even like them. From now on, everything is either mine or yours. All right? From this point on, don't take anything that doesn't belong to you. Those were my chips and I was saving them for ME! [She appears in the doorway with an empty potato chip bag.] And I'm tired of saying it doesn't matter when you take my things. Because it does matter. You just take and take andAnd what the hell are you packing for? [He continues to pack the suitcase.] Matt! Would you answer me? Please!? [She wads up the bag and throws it at him.] So, you're just going to go? Without saying anything? Is that what you want to happen? You don't even have the [She storms over to the suitcase and begins unpacking it. He repacks as quickly as she takes it out.] You are not leaving! Not without telling me! For once in this marriage you are going to talk to me about your plans before you leap into them. I don't care that you want to go, but you are not leaving without telling me first. I want to know! [Resolutely, MATT continues packing in silence.] Oh, this is great. First you rob me of my food and then you sneak offYou are not taking that! [She reaches into his suitcase and pulls something out. She clutches it preciously.] This is how you end a four year commitment? Wellokayfinethen, I guess if it wasn't enough for me to hold down a job so you could lounge around all day in the apartment that I pay rent on and eat my food, then yeah, you should take back the only real gift I ever got from you and sell it for whatever the going price is and [A sudden change of heart] No! No, you cannot have the ring. [Beat.] No. You figure out something else.

FEMALE MONOLOGUES INDEX

Michelle: Eve's Diary, Mark Twain Dani: http://www.monologuearchive.com/a/aeschylus_006.html ATHENA: Not slighted are ye, powers august! through rage Curse not with hopeless blight the abode of man. I too on Zeus rely; why speak of that? And sole among the gods I know the key That opes the halls where seald thunder sleeps. But such we need not. Be appeased by me, Nor scatter o'er the land, from froward tongue, The harmful seed that turneth all to bane. Of bitter rage lull ye the murky wave; Be venerated here and dwell with me. Sharing the first fruits of this ample realm, For children offered, and for nuptial rite, This word of mine thou wilt for ever praise. I'll bear thine anger, for mine elder thou, And wiser art, in that regard, than I. Yet me, with wisdom, Zeus not meanly dowers. But if now ye seek some alien soil, Will of this land enamour'd be; of this You I forewarn; for onward-flowing time Shall these my lieges raise to loftier fame; And thou, in venerable seat enshrined Hard by Erectheus' temple, shalt receive Honours from men and trains of women, such As thou from other mortals ne'er may'st win. But cast ye not abroad on these my realms, To waste their building strength, whetstones of blood, Evoking frantic rage not born of wine; Nor, as out-plucking hearts of fighting cocks, Plant ye among my townsmen civil strife, Reckless of kindred blood; let foreign war Rage without stint, affording ample scope For him who burns with glory's mighty rage. No war of home-bred cocks, I ween, is that! Such terms I proffer, thine it is to choose; Blessing and blest, with blessd rites revered, To share this country dear unto the gods. Josh : http://www.monologuearchive.com/d/dostoevsky_002.html THE POSSESSED A monologue from the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky

NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Possessed. Trans. Constance Garnett. New York: Macmillian Company, 1916. PYOTR: Listen, when I set off to come here, I mean here in the large sense, to this town, ten days ago, I made up my mind, of course, to assume a character. It would have been best to have done without anything, to have kept one's own character, wouldn't it? There is no better dodge than one's own character, because no one believes in it. I meant, I must own, to assume the part of a fool, because it is easier to be a fool than to act one's own character; but as a fool is after all something extreme, and anything extreme excites curiosity, I ended by sticking to my own character. And what is my own character? The golden mean: neither wise nor foolish, rather stupid, and dropped from the moon, as sensible people say here, isn't that it? Ah, you agreeI'm very glad; I knew beforehand that it was your own opinion. . . . You needn't trouble, I am not annoyed, and I didn't describe myself in that way to get a flattering contradiction from youno, you're not stupid, you're clever. ... Ah! you're smiling again! . . . I've blundered once more. You would not have said "you're clever," granted; I'll let it pass anyway. Passons, as papa says, and, in parenthesis, don't be vexed with my verbosity. By the way, I always say a lot, that is, use a great many words and talk very fast, and I never speak well. And why do I use so many words, and why do I never speak well? Because I don't know how to speak. People who can speak well, speak briefly. So that I am stupid, am I not? But as this gift of stupidity is natural to me, why shouldn't I make skilful use of it? And I do make use of it. It's true that as I came here, I did think, at first, of being silent. But you know silence is a great talent, and therefore incongruous for me, and secondly silence would be risky, anyway. So I made up my mind finally that it would be best to talk, but to talk stupidlythat is, to talk and talk and talkto be in a tremendous hurry to explain things, and in the end to get muddled in my own explanations, so that my listener would walk away without hearing the end, with a shrug, or, better still, with a curse. You succeed straight off in persuading them of your simplicity, in boring them and in being incomprehensiblethree advantages all at once! Do you suppose anybody will suspect you of mysterious designs after that? Why, every one of them would take it as a personal affront if anyone were to say I had secret designs. And I sometimes amuse them too, and that's priceless. Why, they're ready to forgive me everything now, just because the clever fellow who used to publish manifestoes out there turns out to be stupider than themselvesthat's so, isn't it? From your smile I see you approve. Emma: DIALOGUES OF THE GODS

HERA: You should be ashamed of yourself! Lord of the gods! Hah! Your behavior wouldnt be proper even if you were some mortal peasant! You desert me, your lawful wife, and go carousing with mortal women at all hours of the day and night with no consideration for my feelings! Its not respectable! At least those sluts of yours remained on Earth, while youve brought this youth from Ida into my own house! He actually lives with us! I have to pick up after him! Oh, Ive seen how you take the cup from him! Everyone sees! Its embarrassing! Even when youre not thirsty! After tasting, you hand the cup back and insist that he drink too, then you receive it again, all googly-eyed, making sure to take the remainder from the spot where the boy has placed his lips so

you can drink and kiss at the same time in front of us all! Do you really think were so dim-witted that we cant see it?! And this morning, I actually witnessed you, the King and father of the universe, with that big beard youve grown, lay aside your aegis and thunderbolt to play a game of marbles with the boy! Youll take any excuse to get close to him, and dont think that I dont see it! Zeus, King of the Godsa pedophile and a degenerate!