Lesser-Known Classical Monologues for Women: Eight Speeches Off the Usual Lists

You open a book of classical speeches for women, and the first pages are the ones three classmates did this term: Viola and the ring, Lady Percy mourning Hotspur, Emilia on husbands. You want something with the same weight that the panel won’t be mouthing along to. That means the less-read plays, and the women who aren’t the title role.

The short version: pick a speech with one listener, one want, and a clear turn, from a play you’re willing to read in full. Below are eight, all public domain, none of them on the published “overdone” lists we checked. Each comes with what just happened, what she wants, our word count, a run time, and a link to the whole play.

What “overdone” really means for women

Start with the lists themselves. A drama-school coaching blog, Acting Coach Scotland, lists what it calls the seven most popular (its title says most overdone) women’s Shakespeare speeches: Lady Percy, Rosalind in Act 3, Scene 5 of As You Like It, Viola’s ring speech, Emilia’s husbands speech, Julia with the torn letter, Portia in Julius Caesar, and Hermione at her trial.

The same post adds that if women skipped every speech on those lists, they’d have hardly anything left, and that popular speeches are popular because they’re good. A 2011 post on Dramatic Dissemination agrees: the “most overused” lists for women read like lists of every woman’s speech in Shakespeare. Shakespeare Geek’s Duane Morin reported that a trade magazine’s list of audition pieces to avoid included Viola’s “I left no ring with her.”

The schools are calmer still. Juilliard’s monologue FAQ says it keeps no list of pieces to stay away from, and asks for speeches you connect with, whether they’re common or obscure. RADA’s 2026 admissions procedure tells applicants, under “Don’t,” not to worry about how original their choice is.

So “lesser-known” isn’t a rule. It’s a practical edge: a panel that doesn’t know the speech hears the story fresh. The catch is that nobody in the room will fill in the context for you.

How we picked and timed these

Every speech below is spoken by a woman, runs as a real monologue, and comes from a play you can read free. We left out every speech named on the lists above, and the women’s speeches already covered in classical monologues for teens and classical monologues that aren’t Shakespeare.

Word counts are ours, from the public-domain text our play library uses, so treat them as approximate. Times are those counts at 140 words a minute, the average pace in our monologue timer, before pauses. Quoted lines are checked against the Project Gutenberg edition linked for each play.

Fury: she wants him to suffer

Paulina, “What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?” (The Winter’s Tale)

From The Winter’s Tale, Act 3, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition. King Leontes has put his wife Hermione on trial for adultery, ignored the oracle that clears her, and just heard that their young son has died. Hermione collapses; Paulina, her fiercest friend, returns. About 217 words, roughly 1 minute 33 seconds.

What she wants: to make the king feel every one of his crimes before she tells him the worst. She lists them like a prosecutor, mocking his jealousy as Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle / For girls of nine, and saves the news for the end: the queen, the queen, / The sweet’st, dear’st creature’s dead. Hermione’s trial speech in this scene is on the popular lists; Paulina’s isn’t.

For a short slot, a clean cut runs from the start to And then run mad indeed, stark mad!, then jumps to O lords and the news, ending on Not dropp’d down yet. That’s about 93 words, roughly 40 seconds.

Queen Margaret, “Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland” (Henry VI, Part 3)

From Henry VI, Part 3, Act 1, Scene 4, in the Gutenberg edition. York, who claims her husband’s crown, has lost the battle and been captured. Lord Clifford has just killed York’s young son Rutland. Northumberland asks Margaret, What would your Grace have done unto him now? The full speech is about 361 words, roughly 2 minutes 34 seconds.

What she wants: to break York before he dies. She has him stood on a molehill, the man who raught at mountains with outstretched arms, and hands him a napkin stained with his son’s blood: I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal. Stop at I prithee grieve to make me merry, York; for about 165 words, roughly 1 minute 10 seconds. Or run on through the mock crowning to Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king. (about 259 words, roughly 1:51). She’s cruel but in full control; play the glee, not a rage.

Speeches where she makes the first move

Joan la Pucelle, “Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd’s daughter” (Henry VI, Part 1)

From Henry VI, Part 1, Act 1, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition, where her speech heading is PUCELLE. This is Joan of Arc, brought to the French prince. He tested her by putting a lord in his place; she saw through it at once, and the lord, Reignier, mutters, She takes upon her bravely at first dash. About 156 words, roughly 1 minute 7 seconds.

What she wants: a place in his army. She tells him where she comes from (Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs) and what she saw, then dares him: My courage try by combat, if thou dar’st. It ends on a rhymed challenge, If thou receive me for thy warlike mate. Play her as certain, not pleading; he’s the one who should be nervous.

The Duchess, “The misery of us that are born great!” (The Duchess of Malfi)

From John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Act 1, Scene 3 in the Gutenberg edition. The young widowed Duchess has decided to marry Antonio, her steward, against her brothers’ orders. He’s too far below her to ask, so she has to propose. From that line it’s about 162 words, roughly 1 minute 9 seconds.

What she wants: for Antonio to stop trembling and say yes. She starts with the problem, We are forc’d to woo, because none dare woo us, then gets practical: ‘Tis not the figure cut in alabaster / Kneels at my husband’s tomb. Webster is one of the playwrights RADA and Juilliard both name, so it counts as classical verse for either.

Wounded, and holding it together

Queen Katherine, “Sir, I desire you do me right and justice” (Henry VIII)

From Henry VIII, Act 2, Scene 4, in the Gutenberg edition. The king wants to end his marriage, and a church court has been called to judge it. Instead of answering the court, Katherine crosses the room and kneels to her husband. The full speech is about 366 words, roughly 2 minutes 37 seconds, so most notices need a cut.

What she wants: for him, not the court, to name one thing she has done wrong. She reminds him she is a most poor woman and a stranger, his wife for Upward of twenty years. Cut it at To the sharp’st kind of justice. for about 260 words, roughly 1 minute 51 seconds.

Helena, “O, were that all! I think not on my father” (All’s Well That Ends Well)

From All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 1, Scene 1, in the Gutenberg edition. Helena’s father, a famous doctor, has died. Everyone thinks she’s crying for him. She’s crying because Bertram, the young count she loves, is leaving for the king’s court. The full speech is about 224 words, roughly 1 minute 36 seconds.

What she wants: to admit the truth to us. She calls herself undone, there is no living, none, / If Bertram be away, and knows exactly how hopeless it is: The hind that would be mated by the lion / Must die for love. Stop at Must sanctify his relics. for about 159 words, roughly 1 minute 8 seconds.

Imogen, “I false! Thy conscience witness!” (Cymbeline)

From Cymbeline, Act 3, Scene 4, in the Gutenberg edition, which calls her Imogen. Her husband’s servant Pisanio has taken her into the countryside and shown her a letter from her husband ordering him to kill her for adultery. She is innocent; a liar fooled him. About 93 words, roughly 40 seconds.

What she wants: to understand how he could believe it. She decides he’s found someone else, Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion, and peaks on Men’s vows are women’s traitors! If you need more time, the speech just before, False to his bed? What is it to be false?, adds about 49 words with only Pisanio’s Alas, good lady! between. Keep it to that one short line; RADA warns against speeches that lean on another character’s interjections.

One for comedy

Adriana, “Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown” (The Comedy of Errors)

From The Comedy of Errors, Act 2, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition. Adriana thinks her husband has been avoiding her. She finds him in the street and lets him have it. It isn’t him: it’s his identical twin, who answers, In Ephesus I am but two hours old. The full speech is about 287 words, roughly 2 minutes 3 seconds.

What she wants: her husband back. She means every word (Ah, do not tear away thyself from me;), and the comedy comes from the audience knowing she’s pouring her marriage out to a stranger. Cut it at As take from me thyself, and not me too. for about 152 words, roughly 1 minute 5 seconds. Play it completely straight. Read Adriana’s whole part to see how far she goes.

The picks at a glance

• Under a minute: Paulina cut (about 93 words, 40 seconds), Imogen (about 93 words, 40 seconds).
• About a minute: Adriana cut (about 152 words, 1:05), Joan (about 156 words, 1:07), Helena cut (about 159 words, 1:08), the Duchess (about 162 words, 1:09), Margaret cut (about 165 words, 1:10).
• Under two minutes: Paulina in full (about 217 words, 1:33), Helena in full (about 224 words, 1:36), Katherine cut (about 260 words, 1:51).

For a contrasting pair, try Katherine with Joan: a still, kneeling plea next to a bold challenge. Or Adriana with Margaret: comic, desperate pleading next to cool, gleeful cruelty. Our guide to choosing contrasting monologues goes further, and how to cut a monologue covers trimming one to fit a limit. If you’d rather start from the well-known speeches, our list of monologues for women has the full text and timing for each.

Know the play better than the panel does

Juilliard tells applicants not to choose from monologue books at all and to read the entire play. RADA asks you to imagine the person you’re speaking to and know the speech’s context.

1. Read the full play once for the story, then the scene three times. Write down what happened in the minute before your first line.
2. Name your listener and what you want them to do by the end. Leontes should break; Antonio should say yes; the Dauphin should let Joan fight.
3. Paraphrase every line in your own words, and look up any word that stumps you before you memorize it.
4. Find the turn: the line where she changes tactic, like Paulina’s O lords.
5. Time it standing up, at full energy, three times, and keep the slowest run.

These plays are long. In Offbook, you can drop a full-length play’s PDF, pick only the pages with your scene, and rehearse just that scene, as the video below shows. The cue line before your speech is read aloud and the app waits for you.

Then learn the words. Offbook can hide your lines while everyone else’s stay visible, or swap your words for first-letter cues on the way to a blank page. Our free first-letter memorizer does the cue step with any speech you paste in.

Questions actors ask

What are uncommon classical monologues for women?

Look past the title roles. Paulina, Queen Margaret, Joan la Pucelle, Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, Queen Katherine, Helena in All’s Well, Imogen, and Adriana all have strong speeches that aren’t on the overdone lists we checked.

What monologues are overdone for women?

Acting Coach Scotland names Lady Percy, Rosalind, Viola’s ring speech, Emilia, Julia, Portia in Julius Caesar, and Hermione as the most common women’s Shakespeare speeches. Juilliard keeps no avoid list, so a famous speech done well is still fine.

What is a strong classical monologue for a woman?

One with a single listener, a clear want, and a turn. The Duchess of Malfi proposing to Antonio and Joan la Pucelle talking her way into an army both have all three, and both fit a two-minute limit.

Where can I find a fresh classical monologue for a woman?

Read whole plays rather than monologue books. Every play here is free on Project Gutenberg and in our play library.