{"id":756,"date":"2016-07-18T18:10:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T18:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mgs.performerstuff.com\/?p=756"},"modified":"2020-03-17T05:18:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T05:18:22","slug":"10-of-the-best-shakespearean-monologues-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/10-of-the-best-shakespearean-monologues-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"10 of the Best Shakespearean Monologues for Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

10 of the Best Shakespearean Monologues for Women<\/h3>\n \"\"<\/a><\/span>

Written by Ashleigh Gardner<\/p>\n

July 18, 2016<\/p>\n<\/font>

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Ever have trouble finding a great Shakespearean monologue that suits you for an audition? There are tons of <\/span>amazing<\/span><\/i> ones to choose from. Because it\u2019s hard to choose \u201cthe best,\u201d we\u2019ve compiled a list of ten monologues, five comedic and five dramatic, that are sure to fit your style. What’s even better, we’ve included links to where you can find them for free on our site. Happy monologuing!<\/span><\/p>\n \"\"<\/span>

Helena from A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/i><\/h4>\n
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A monologue featuring awkward and funny confusion, accusations, and despair. The mischievous Puck has dropped the juice from a magic flower into the eyes of Demetrius and Lysander, causing both to instantly fall in love with Helena. Lysander should love Hermia, Helena\u2019s best friend, but now he chases after Helena. Thinking it is a cruel trick on the part of all three of the other lovers, Helena begs Hermia to consider their friendship and drop the trick in order to save their relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Mistress Page from The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/i><\/h4>\n
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A hilarious monologue about unexpected love letters from an unexpected admirer. Mistress Page, a married woman, has just received a love letter from one of the most bawdy, unruly, and rude men in London: Sir John Falstaff, a man she has not seen more than twice in her entire life. At first she is flattered and then disgusted, charmed and then revolted. Mistress Page reads through the letter aloud, and is aghast and slightly embarrassed with his promises of love and affection. Her disbelief turns to scheming and hysterical promises of revenge. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Silvia from The Two Gentlemen of Verona<\/i><\/h4>\n
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In this silly monologue about friendship, devotion, and running away, Silvia begs her friend, Eglamour, to help her escape so she can see her boyfriend, Valentine. Silvia has recently promised herself to Valentine even though her father wants her to marry the vain Thurio. Her father is so intent on her not escaping that he locks her in her room at night, but this doesn\u2019t stop her from plotting her escape. A monologue about a smart young woman who\u2019ll stop at nothing (especially charming her friend) to be with her true love.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Phebe from As You Like It<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Phebe is constantly being followed around by her neighbor, Silvius. In the middle of the forest, surrounded by their flock of sheep, Phebe yells at Silvius for bothering her all the time. He praises the qualities about her that, by looking at her, are unworthy of admiration. (She is not the prettiest girl in the forest, and she knows this, but Silvius doesn\u2019t care.) Phebe attempts all kinds of actions to get Silvius to go away: staring him down, insulting him, and pushing him over. She finally gives up, and resigns herself to the fact that her fanclub of one is a permanent fixture in her life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Princess of France from Love\u2019s Labour\u2019s Lost<\/i><\/h4>\n
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The Princess of France isn\u2019t as sweet and silly as Shakespeare\u2019s other female heroines. She\u2019s been sent on a diplomatic mission to Navarre. (The King of Navarre refuses to allow women into his kingdom in order to encourage his sons to study.) In this partially sarcastic, partially scheming monologue, the confident and intelligent Princess of France speaks to her gossipy servant, Boyet. He\u2019s just told her she\u2019s incomparably beautiful, perfect, and precious. The Princess, knowing her beauty is at best average, tells him to stop lying to her and that she\u2019s not as impressed with him as he is with himself. She urges him to, frankly, get real, and travel to Navarre to send a message to the king from her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lady Anne from Richard III<\/i><\/h4>\n
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A monologue of rage, fear, and mourning. Richard of Gloucester has had the standing king, Henry VI, slain in an attempt to take his throne. Lady Anne\u2019s husband Ned (Henry\u2019s son and heir to the throne) and her father (the Earl of Warwick) have also been killed prior to the start of the play (both murdered by Richard of Gloucester). Anne, now a widow <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> an orphan (around 15 at the time), walks through the street with the late King Henry VI\u2019s body on a bier. She stops the mourning party when she sees Richard in the middle of the street. Her soldiers are obviously disturbed by his presence, and Anne, being fed up with the entire situation, reprimands them and then apologizes, turning her rage on Richard, calling him a \u201clump of foul deformity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Desdemona from Othello<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Desdemona, a pure and faithful woman, is married to Othello, an accomplished and honorable black general in the Venetian army. Iago, Othello\u2019s trusted ensign, is jealous that Othello has promoted young Cassio, not Iago, into a higher office, and he vows to undo Othello. He does this by convincing Othello that Desdemona has cheated on him with Cassio. Desdemona, unaware of Iago\u2019s deceit, asks Iago how she should convince Othello that she is faithful. She begs him to speak with her husband, distraught that her marriage is faltering.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Isabella from Measure for Measure<\/i><\/h4>\n
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In this monologue, Isabella, a novice nun and sister to Claudio, begs for her brother\u2019s release from prison. She speaks to Vincentio, the recently returned Duke of Vienna. Antonio, the Duke\u2019s deputy, ruled the city while the Duke was away. (In his absence, Antonio has arrested Claudio for impregnating Julietta, Claudio\u2019s girlfriend, before marriage. Antonio has told Isabella that he will prolong Claudio\u2019s execution if she will sleep with him, and Isabella rejects him.) Here, Isabella asks the Duke for forgiveness for her brother, and tells the Duke how wrongfully she and Claudio have been treated. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Goneril from King Lear<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Goneril is fed up with her father, King Lear. Lear, a vain and foolish man, has just divided his kingdom between two of his daughters (Goneril and Regan) and left his youngest (Cordelia) out of his will. In the scene previous to this, Goneril\u2019s servant reprimanded Lear\u2019s fool, and Lear hit him for interfering. Goneril is embarrassed, and has had enough of her father acting so rashly and selfishly. In a sudden move to infuriate her father and send him over the edge, Regan tells her steward, Oswald, to make as much trouble as he can in the castle. She hopes that Lear will be so annoyed that he\u2019ll go and live with Regan instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Paulina from The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Paulina accuses King Leontes of murdering Queen Hermione. The queen has been unjustly accused of adultery, and Leontes publicly shames her. However, an oracle proves her chaste and true, but Leontes doesn\u2019t believe the oracle. Their son Mamillius has also died of grief. Here Paulina, Hermione\u2019s friend and confident, accuses Leontes of tyranny against his friends, wife, and children. The monologue is a lament and captures the rage within her heart as she faces a man who, though more powerful than her, is undeniably guilty of his wife\u2019s deterioration and death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the\u00a0Monologue Here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ashleigh Gardner<\/strong>\u00a0received her AA in Theatre\/Drama\/Dramatic Arts\u00a0from Valencia College and\u00a0her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and\u00a0Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from\u00a0the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright and an actor.<\/em><\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [...]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[470,259,770,301,759,272],"tags":[6,100,103,101,104,63,14,346],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}