Does ANYONE know of a good male SHAKESPEAREAN soliloquy i.e a powerful speach from a SHAKESPEAREAN play?

Question

It's for a competition that I will ultimately have to perform and I wouldn't really be a shakespear fan myself but I am looking for a male sololoquy preferable with usage of extreme ANGER and/or SADNESS. Any suddestion is really appreciated.

Answer 1

Good question. I can advise two pieces:

1. Hamlet, Act 4 Secene I:
(superb played by Kenneth Brannagh)

How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

2. Henry V, Act IV Scene III
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Answer 2

Helena Rosalind Portia Desdemona Juliet Imogen Katherine Titania Isabella Lavinia Virgilia Amelia Regan Celia Diana Tamora Jessica Olivia Luciana

Answer 3

Hamlet shows a lot of emotion in his sililoquy, but it's been done to death.

Check out Puck's speeches in Midsummer's Night Dream and a couple of nice speeches in Richard III.

Now, there are some good ones in both MacBeth and Hamlet (other than the 'to be or not to be'), here is a nice list...

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt ("Hamlet", 1.2.131-61)

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! ("Hamlet", 2.2.555-612)

Tis now the very witching time of night ("Hamlet", 3.2.380-391)

Now might I do it pat, now he is praying ("Hamlet", 3.3.77-100)

How all occasions do inform against me ("Hamlet", 4.4.35-69)

If it were done when 'tis done ("Macbeth", 1.7.1-29).

Is this a dagger which I see before me ("Macbeth", 2.1.33-61)

To be thus is nothing ("Macbeth", 3.1.47-71)

She should have died hereafter ("Macbeth", 5.5.17-28)

Answer 4

One of the greatest Shakespearean soliloquies is in Macbeth! Act 5 scene 5. Hope you like it! Macbeth has just been informed of his wife's untimely suicide. But with the war and his impending doom so close, this is his response:

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word. -
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
and then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Bravo!! Bravo!!! Good luck!

Answer 5

I would recommend Hotspur form Henry IV. part 1, Act II

"My Liege, I did deny no prisoners, . . ."

A young man, Harry "Hotspur" is making excuses to his king (with whom he's pissed) why he didn't give up men he had captured. Not a big thinker this Harry, (hence the name), but he's impetuous, with a rough soldierly irony, and humour.

Or

Antony from "Julius Caesar" Act III, not long after Caesar's murder, when the conspirators leave him with the corpse of Caesar.

"Oh, pardon me, though bleeding piece of earth
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers."

A grand old thumping speech, and filled with rage, hatred, and love for his friend and mentor.

For a real challenge, you might look at Edgar (not Edmund, cuz everybody does the "bastard" speech), from Lear. I believe it's late in Act II and begins " I heard myself proclaimed." In it the wrongfully accused Edgar decides the safest way to avoid capture is to disguise himself as an escaped madman. It's a tough one.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Well, the soliloquy that's best known is the one from Hamlet ("To be, or not to be, that is the question..."), Hamlet's emo-fest about his mother remarrying ("O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt"), Marc Anthony's speech to the Romans from Julius Caesar ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears", Caesar's eulogy), and there's Macbeth's as well ("Is this a dagger that I see before me?" lots of guilt there).

Answer 7

Iago's "put money in thy purse" speech from Othello
Prospero's "our revels now are ended" speech from The Tempest
Hamlet's soliliquey, of course
Benedict's "ages of man" speech from Much Ado About Nothing

There are lots more, but these are some of my favorites. Iago's speech has such underlying bitterness, cunning and deceit that it's just marvelous, but Prospero's speech is so introspective and sad.

Good luck! (Break a leg!)

Answer 8

The most famous and most well known soliquy froma Shakespeare play is the "To be or Not to Be" Speech from Hamlet.

Answer 9

I suggest browsing the monologues at the site I've linked... there's a good variety there. You might start with the tragedies, especially, although there is some good anger in some of the comedies. Look especially at Coriolanus and Titus Andronicus.

Answer 10

Shylock from "The Merchant of Venice" has two extremely powerful speeches. The first begins...

"You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help..."

and continues on. It is found in Act 1, Scene 3.

The second (and most famous) is...

"He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew...."

It also continues on (it's the "if you prick us, do we not bleed?" speech). That one is in Act 3, Scene 1.