MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Oberon, male
MONOLOGUE THEME: retracting cruelty for love’s sake
30 lines
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: ACT II, SCENE III
Four male characters; possible narrator
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Benedick, male
MONOLOGUE THEME: giving up the argument against love
27 lines
OTHELLO: ACT II, SCENE III
Four male characters; possible narrator and non-speaking roles
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Iago, male
MONOLOGUE THEME: making evil out of good
27 lines
ROMEO AND JULIET: ACT III, SCENE V
Two male characters and three female characters; possible narrator
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Nurse, female
MONOLOGUE THEME: settling for a practical husband
14 lines
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: ACT V, SCENE II
Five male characters and three female characters; possible narrator and non-speaking roles
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Katherine, female
MONOLOGUE THEME: what a woman owes her husband
44 lines
THE TEMPEST: ACT V, SCENE I
SCENE LENGTH: 8-10 minutes
Nine male characters and two female characters; possible narrator and non-speaking roles
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Prospero, male
MONOLOGUE THEME: The virtue of forgiveness
27 lines
TWELFTH NIGHT: ACT II, SCENE IV
Three male characters and one female character; possible narrator
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Viola, female (disguised as Cesario, male)
MONOLOGUE THEME: how women love
15 lines
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA: ACT II, SCENE IV
Two male characters and one female character; possible narrator
MONOLOGUE CHARACTER: Proteus, male
MONOLOGUE THEME: a new lover’s image pushes out a present lover
23 lines
PERFORMING MONOLOGUES
START ORGANICALLY
I recommend reading the speech silently and then reading it aloud to yourself. After you do this, read it out loud again, maybe experimenting with dynamics such as softening your voice when you feel the text calls for it and then speaking louder and with greater emphasis when the spirit moves you. Listen to how the words sound. How do the words feel physically and emotionally as you speak them?
Don’t worry initially about what everything in the text means. Just speak the words and be curious as to what your character is saying, how she feels, and what story she is telling. That is what I mean by “start organically.” Don’t rush to the dictionary, the notes to the play, or a video of the performance. Researching a role is an important part of the process, but I recommend you start with your own unique curiosity. You are the one who will be bringing himself to the role, so start alone.
STUDY THE TEXT
Next, look more carefully at the words on the page. Print out your monologue and pick up a pencil. (You can find easily editable copies of Shakespeare’s plays at www.folgerdigitaltexts.com.) Circle the words you have questions about. If you don’t know what a word means, take a guess based on its sound or appearance. Look at its context. Based on other lines that your character speaks, what might it mean? Then look it up in the dictionary. See if its etymology, or origin, comes from another word. Be curious! Each word is a piece of the puzzle that is a Shakespearean speech.
I recommend the notes to the Folger Shakespeare Library editions of the plays. They are informative and insightful. In addition to providing definitions of what these words meant in Shakespeare’s time, they also explain the longer historical, literary, mythological, and religious references that Shakespeare uses. The more time you spend studying the minutia of the text, the better your stage interpretation will be. It’s exciting work because you know that everything you learn, you can then put into your performance!
STUDY PERFORMANCES
There are numerous recordings of Shakespeare’s plays readily available for viewing. Whether on YouTube, PBS, cable or satellite TV, streaming sites, or apps, the twenty-first century has provided us a wealth of astounding Shakespeare performances. Use the resources available to you, and study how great actors have rendered your monologue. Study the bad ones, too! Figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
It is extremely important to watch more than one rendition. You don’t want to parrot somebody else’s performance. Shakespeare has been performed so many different ways that you can access a wealth of different interpretations to inform your work. At the end of each Monologue Notes, I have included suggested films and recordings to watch, and there are many others at your fingertips. If you have an opportunity to see an actual live performance of a Shakespeare play at some point, so much the better! Videos are great tools, but there is no substitute for experiencing a live performance of a Shakespeare play, whether by students, amateurs, or professionals.
THE TEXT
WORDS AND PHRASES
Throughout the Monologue Notes, I refer to “coloring” words. When you speak a word, try to imbue it with the emotion or attitude of the speaker. Some words lend themselves more to coloring than others. Pick particularly evocative words and do not gloss over them. Great Shakespearean actors milk the sound of the words for all they are worth. A properly colored word can hang in the air like a painted masterpiece and give richness to the text and your performance. There are numerous example of this in the Monologue Notes.
Aside from choosing words to color, you must choose key words to emphasize. Study a Shakespearean actor’s performance. You will notice that in any given line, there is a word or phrase that is stressed. It is given more punch than other words in the sentence. Experiment by reciting your lines out loud, emphasizing a different
