# Marlowe Monologues for Auditions: Faustus, Barabas, Edward, and More

> Twelve Christopher Marlowe speeches for auditions from Doctor Faustus, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II, for men and women, each with the setup, what the character wants, its opening lines from the Project Gutenberg text, an approximate run time, and where to cut the long ones.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/marlowe-monologues-for-auditions
- Published: 2026-11-03
- Last updated: 2026-11-03

The notice asks for a classical speech, and you'd like it not to be Shakespeare. Someone suggests Marlowe. You search, and every list gives you the same answer: Faustus's last hour. It's a great speech. It also runs about three minutes, and half the actors in the corridor may have the same idea.

Marlowe wrote more than one great speech. Barabas counting his jewels, Gaveston reading a king's love letter, Mortimer gloating over a kingdom he has just taken, and a queen left alone by a husband who loves someone else are all in plays you can read free tonight.

The short version: for a first Marlowe speech, try Faustus's "How am I glutted," Barabas's "As for myself, I walk abroad o' nights," or Mortimer's "The prince I rule." Each runs a minute or a little over and has one clear want. Below are twelve speeches from *Doctor Faustus*, *The Jew of Malta*, and *Edward II*, each with the setup, the want, its opening lines, a run time, and where to cut the long ones.

## Check that Marlowe answers the notice

Marlowe is about as safe as a non-Shakespeare choice gets. RADA's [2026 BA Acting admissions procedure](https://www.rada.ac.uk/documents/1342/BA_acting_admissions_procedure_2026.pdf) asks for a classical speech from Shakespeare or an Elizabethan or Jacobean playwright, and names Jonson, Marlowe, and Webster as examples. It also limits each speech to two minutes.

Juilliard's [2020-21 monologue FAQs](https://www.juilliard.edu/sites/default/files/monologue_faqs_2020_21.pdf) worked differently, so check the current year's requirements. They asked for two classical pieces of about two minutes each: at least one had to be Shakespeare and at least one had to be in verse. The other could come from any pre-20th-century writer whose text is poetic or heightened. Marlowe fits that second slot well, because almost everything below is blank verse.

So read the notice's wording before you choose. If it says "Shakespeare only," Marlowe is out. If it says "Shakespeare or a contemporary," or simply "classical verse," he's one of the strongest choices you have. Our guide to [classical monologues that aren't Shakespeare](https://www.offbook.com/blog/classical-monologue-not-shakespeare) walks through how each kind of notice reads, and how Marlowe compares with Webster, the Greeks, and Molière.

## How we timed these speeches

Every time below is an estimate, so we'll show the working. We counted the verse lines and the words of each speech in the modern-spelling text our [play library](https://www.offbook.com/plays) uses, then divided the words by 150 a minute, a steady conversational pace. Marlowe's lines run about seven or eight words each, so 20 lines comes out at roughly a minute.

Verse spoken well usually runs slower than that, because the big images need air. So treat each number as the shortest the speech is likely to run, and time your own version standing up. That Juilliard FAQ said the school didn't use a timer in the room, but asked applicants to respect the two-minute limit; a few seconds over was fine.

The quotations come from Project Gutenberg. Its [*Doctor Faustus*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/779) and [*Jew of Malta*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/901) are the Rev. Alexander Dyce's editions, and its [*Edward the Second*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20288) names no editor. They keep older spellings like *launch'd*. Scene numbers below follow our library's text, and other editions number scenes differently, so find a speech by its first line.

## Doctor Faustus

Faustus has nearly half of all the words in the play, by our library's count, so there's no shortage of material. Watch for one thing: the play survives in two early versions. Wikipedia's [entry on the play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Faustus_(play)) says the 1616 B text adds 676 new lines, making it roughly a third longer than the 1604 A text. Dyce's Gutenberg edition is based on the 1604 quarto. Whichever text you learn, tell the panel and keep to it.

### Faustus, "Settle thy studies" (first scene)

> Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
> To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:

Alone in his study, Faustus goes through every subject he has mastered (logic, medicine, law, divinity) and throws each one away. What he wants: something big enough for his mind. The soliloquy is about 440 words, roughly three minutes, and full of Latin tags. A clean cut runs from *When all is done, divinity is best:* to *Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity.* That's about 195 words, roughly 1 minute 20 seconds. Know what every Latin line means; the panel will hear it if you don't.

### Faustus, "How am I glutted" (first scene)

> How am I glutted with conceit of this!
> Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,

He has sent for his friends Valdes and Cornelius, who can teach him magic, and while he waits he can't stop listing what he'll make the spirits do: gold from India, pearl from the ocean, a wall of brass around Germany. What he wants: to see the whole future at once. Stop at *I'll make my servile spirits to invent.*, before he greets his friends. That's 20 lines, about 150 words, roughly a minute. It's the best Marlowe speech for showing joy, and the list gives you a built-in build.

### Faustus to Helen, "Was this the face" (near the end)

> Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
> And burnt the topless towers of Ilium--

Near the end of his twenty-four years, Faustus asks Mephistophilis for Helen of Troy, and the spirit brings her. What he wants: to lose himself in her, so that he doesn't have to think about what's coming. About 20 lines and 156 words, roughly a minute. The danger is singing it. Every image is a bargain he's making, ending on *And none but thou shalt be my paramour!*

### Faustus, "Ah, Faustus, / Now hast thou but one bare hour to live" (final scene)

> Ah, Faustus,
> Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,

The clock has struck eleven, and at midnight the devils come. The whole soliloquy is about 457 words, roughly three minutes, so it's too long for a two-minute slot as written. Cut it in one of two places. The first 21 lines, to *And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!*, run about 180 words, roughly 1 minute 10 seconds. The second half, from *Ah, half the hour is past!* to the end, is about 205 words, roughly 1 minute 20.

What he wants: more time, from anyone at all. The first cut has the turn at *The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,* when he realizes his orders to the heavens are not working. Our guide to [short dramatic classical monologues](https://www.offbook.com/blog/dramatic-monologues-short-classical) has more on playing it.

## The Jew of Malta

Barabas, like Faustus, carries nearly half of all the words, and speaks in 15 of the play's 24 sections in our library's text. He's a villain who talks to the audience, and the play has a streak of dark comedy, so most of his speeches let you be funny and frightening at once.

### Barabas in his counting-house (Act 1)

> So that of thus much that return was made;
> And of the third part of the Persian ships

Barabas sits among his money, tired of counting coins and dreaming of jewels instead. What he wants: to show us how a really rich man thinks. The whole speech is 49 lines, about 360 words, roughly 2 minutes 25. For a cut, start at the line about the merchants of the Indian mines and stop on *Infinite riches in a little room.*: 19 lines, about 133 words, under a minute. Run lines 1 to 37 if you have two minutes.

### Barabas, "As for myself, I walk abroad o' nights" (Act 2)

> As for myself, I walk abroad o' nights,
> And kill sick people groaning under walls:

Barabas has just bought the slave Ithamore at the market, and he's telling his new servant what kind of master he has. The list of crimes is outrageous, and Ithamore loves it. What he wants: to win a partner, by showing off. It's 28 lines, about 211 words, roughly 1 minute 25 seconds. End one line early, on the boast about having as much coin as will buy the town, and it stands alone: 27 lines, about 201 words, roughly 1 minute 20.

### Barabas, "My gold, my gold" (Act 1)

> My gold, my gold, and all my wealth is gone!--
> You partial heavens, have I deserv'd this plague?

The governor has seized his wealth, and his daughter Abigail tells him the house is being turned into a nunnery. What he wants: to stop falling, and he does it within the speech, moving from despair to a plan. It's 16 lines, about 130 words, roughly 50 seconds, which makes it one of the best Marlowe choices for a one-minute call. The turn is the moment he decides to live.

### Abigail, "Hard-hearted father, unkind Barabas!" (Act 3)

> Hard-hearted father, unkind Barabas!
> Was this the pursuit of thy policy,

Barabas used Abigail to set her two suitors against each other, and both are dead. She has just worked out that he planned it. What she wants: to understand how her father could do it, and then to get away from him. It's 14 lines, about 102 words, roughly 40 seconds. The last line is Ithamore arriving with the friar, so end on the line before it: 13 lines, about 94 words, still about 40 seconds.

## Edward II

King Edward holds over a quarter of the words, and Younger Mortimer about a sixth, but Mortimer speaks in more scenes, 15 of 24. The play gives you a king, a favorite, a rebel who becomes a tyrant, and a queen who changes sides. That spread makes it the best Marlowe play for finding a speech close to your own age and energy.

### Gaveston reads the king's letter (Act 1, Scene 1)

> My father is deceas'd. Come, Gaveston,
> And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.

The play opens with Gaveston, just back from exile in France, reading a letter from Edward, who has just become king. What he wants: to reach the king, and never to bow to the lords again. It's 24 lines, about 191 words, roughly 1 minute 15. Stop before the final line, where some poor men arrive: 23 lines, about 185 words, still about 1 minute 15. Let the delight in the first lines be real; the contempt that follows works better for it.

### King Edward, "Leicester, if gentle words might comfort me" (Act 5, Scene 1)

> Leicester, if gentle words might comfort me,
> Thy speeches long ago had eas'd my sorrows,

Edward is a prisoner, and a bishop has come to take his crown for his young son. What he wants: to make someone feel what it is to be a king who no longer rules. It's 33 lines, about 262 words, roughly 1 minute 45. At its center is *But what are kings, when regiment is gone, / But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?* Our guide to [two-minute classical monologues](https://www.offbook.com/blog/two-minute-classical-monologues) covers this speech in more depth.

### Younger Mortimer, "The prince I rule" (Act 5, Scene 4)

> The prince I rule, the queen do I command,
> And with a lowly conge to the ground

Mortimer has just sent the murderer Lightborn to kill Edward, and the coronation of the boy king is about to begin. Alone, he enjoys his power out loud. What he wants: to savor it, and to convince himself that nothing can touch him now. It's 25 lines, about 190 words, roughly 1 minute 15. He mocks his own show of modesty at the council table, so it's funny before it's frightening.

His speech just before it, *The king must die, or Mortimer goes down;*, is 22 lines and about 176 words, a little over a minute. It's built around a Latin letter that can be read two ways, depending on where you put the comma. It's a great puzzle to explain to an audience, but only if you can make the grammar clear.

For more speeches like these, our [dramatic monologues page](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/dramatic) sorts dramatic speeches by run time. The full plays are free in the library: [*Doctor Faustus*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-tragical-history-of-doctor-faustus), [*The Jew of Malta*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-jew-of-malta), and [*Edward II*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/edward-ii). Each play page shows who speaks most, and where the longest speeches fall.

## Marlowe speeches for women

Honestly, Marlowe's major plays give women far fewer lines than men. There's no woman's speech in these three plays as long as Barabas's or Edward's. But there are good short ones, and they suit one-minute calls well.

### Queen Isabella, "O miserable and distressed queen!" (Edward II, Act 1, Scene 4)

> O miserable and distressed queen!
> Would, when I left sweet France, and was embarked,

Edward has just told Isabella that until Gaveston is called back from exile, she can't come into his sight. Left alone, she wishes she had never married him, rages like *frantic Juno*, then turns: *I must entreat him, I must speak him fair,*. What she wants: her husband back, even if it means helping his favorite. It's 17 lines, about 130 words, roughly 50 seconds.

For a later Isabella, try her speech to the lords as she lands in England with an army, which opens *Now, lords, our loving friends and countrymen,* (Act 4, Scene 4). It's 14 lines, about 40 seconds, and it breaks off at *But thou--* as Mortimer interrupts her. She's speaking in public now, and she's furious with the king: *Misgovern'd kings are cause of all this wreck;*.

Abigail's speech above is the other strong choice from these three plays. She doesn't speak after Act 3, so she is all there in the first half of the play.

Outside our library, look at *Dido, Queen of Carthage*. Wikipedia's [entry on the play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido,_Queen_of_Carthage_(play)) says it was written by Marlowe, possibly with contributions by Thomas Nashe. Dido is the title role, and when Aeneas tells her he is leaving, she turns on him: *Thy mother was no goddess, perjured man,*. That line comes from A. H. Bullen's edition in [volume 2 of Marlowe's works](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42724) on Project Gutenberg. We haven't timed it, so count the lines yourself.

You also don't have to wait for a woman's part. Juilliard's 2020-21 FAQ answered "May I choose a character of any gender identification?" with a plain yes. Faustus or Mortimer works for any actor who can carry the want. Check your own notice, since other schools may set different rules.

## Cut a long Marlowe speech without breaking it

Marlowe builds by piling things up: lists of jewels, of crimes, of conquests, of escape routes. That makes him easier to cut than Shakespeare, because you can often lose part of a list without losing the thought. It also tempts you to cut the wrong part. A few rules keep the speech whole:

- Start on a full sentence that sets up the want, never mid-thought, and end on a line that lands, like Barabas's *Infinite riches in a little room.*
- Keep the turn, the line where the character changes tactic, even if you have to cut something you love before it.
- Cut from the middle of a list, not the end, because the last item is usually the biggest.
- Drop the last line when it only greets someone who's arriving, as in Gaveston's and Abigail's speeches.
- Keep Latin only if you can say what it means, and make the meaning land in the line after it.
- Time the cut at full voice three times, and use the slowest time.

Our guide on [how to cut a monologue](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-cut-a-monologue) goes through this step by step, and our free [monologue timer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/monologue-timer) checks a cut at different speaking speeds.

## Speak the verse as thinking, not as music

Marlowe's lines are regular and loud, and that's the trap. Ten even syllables, line after line, can make you chant. Keep the sense moving to the end of each line and through it, and save your breath for where the thought ends, not where the line does.

The older spellings help you. The Gutenberg texts print *launch'd* and *deceas'd* because the ending is one syllable, not two. Read the speech out loud once in the Gutenberg text, noticing where the elisions fall, then learn it in whichever text you've chosen. Give every image in a list its own reason to be said, so the twentieth jewel feels as new as the first.

RADA's guide says not to worry about how original your choice of speech is, so Faustus's last hour is fine. Just know who you're talking to. Faustus speaks to the heavens, then to Christ, then to the stars. Barabas talks to Ithamore. Isabella talks to herself. Juilliard's FAQ asked applicants to read the whole play so they'd know who the character is speaking to and why.

## Learn it out loud, with the scene around it

Most of these speeches answer someone, so learn the cue line along with the speech. Read the scene aloud a few times, then say the speech in your own words, one thought per sentence, before you go word-perfect. With Marlowe, the last step matters most: the verse only sits right when you've said it out loud many times.

Offbook makes that last step easy. Upload the scene, pick your role, and realistic voices read Ithamore, Leicester, or Mephistophilis, then wait while you say your lines. When you're ready, hide your own lines while the others stay on screen, or switch to first-letter cues on the way to a blank page, as the video below shows.

Video: [Hide your lines](https://www.offbook.com/learn/hide-your-lines) (1:07)

Our free [first-letter memorizer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer) does the cue step with any speech you paste in, and our guide on [how to memorize a monologue](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-memorize-a-monologue) has the full method.

## Questions actors ask

### Is Faustus's last speech too long for an audition?

Uncut, usually yes. It's about 457 words in our library's text, roughly three minutes at a steady pace, and most slots are two minutes. Take either half: the opening to "the heavy wrath of God" runs about 1 minute 10, and from "Ah, half the hour is past" to the end runs about 1 minute 20.

### Is Marlowe a good alternative to Shakespeare for a classical audition?

Usually, yes, when the notice allows Shakespeare's contemporaries. RADA names Marlowe as an example of an acceptable classical playwright. If a notice asks for Shakespeare specifically, bring Shakespeare and keep Marlowe for another slot.

### Which edition of Marlowe should I learn?

Any public-domain text is free to read and use, including the Project Gutenberg editions quoted here and the modern-spelling texts in our play library. They differ in spelling, punctuation, and sometimes in words, so pick one, learn it, and stick to it.

### Can I rehearse a Marlowe speech on my phone?

Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere. Listening to the scene with Offbook on the way to the audition keeps the cue lines in your ear.