Dramatic monologues from Shakespeare’s tragedies

Serious speeches for auditions and class, timed from the exact text, each with a guide to every line.

The Offbook team

Oct 18, 2026

When a notice asks for a dramatic monologue, it wants a speech with real stakes: grief, guilt, fear, a choice that will cost something. The speeches here come from three tragedies, where the stakes are life and death.

Dramatic does not mean loud. Many of these are spoken alone, in a quiet moment, by someone thinking hard. Each page explains every line in plain English, so you know what the character is fighting for before you decide how big to play it.

The monologues, shortest first

Listed here: speeches from plays that are tragedies. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth are all printed among the tragedies in the First Folio of 1623. Speeches from the comedies are on the comedic monologues page.

Monologue	Play	Lines	Run time
Macbeth: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”	Macbeth	12	36 seconds
Juliet: “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy” (What’s in a name?)	Romeo and Juliet	12	36 seconds
Ophelia: “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!”	Hamlet	12	42 seconds
Lady Macbeth: “The raven himself is hoarse”	Macbeth	17	54 seconds
Romeo: “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?”	Romeo and Juliet	24	1.4 minutes
Macbeth: “Is this a dagger which I see before me”	Macbeth	32	1.8 minutes
Hamlet: “To be, or not to be”	Hamlet	35	1.8 minutes
Mercutio: The Queen Mab speech	Romeo and Juliet	43	2.2 minutes
Hamlet: “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”	Hamlet	60	3.0 minutes

Run times are the words of each speech at a conversational 150 words a minute, before pauses, counted from the full text of public domain editions from Standard Ebooks. To time your own pace, paste a speech into the monologue timer.

How to choose one for an audition

Start with the time limit in the casting notice. Pick a speech that runs a little under it at a natural pace, so you never have to rush the end.
Choose a character you could be cast as now, close to your age and in a situation you understand.
Look for a turn: a moment where the character changes their mind or makes a decision. A speech that only describes gives you nothing to play.
Know who you are talking to. A speech aimed at another character, or straight at the audience, gives you someone to change.
If the notice asks for two pieces, pair contrasting ones; see how to choose contrasting monologues. Need it shorter? Read how to cut a monologue.

About each speech

Macbeth: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5 · Verse · about 36 seconds at 150 words a minute

Macbeth hears that his wife is dead and sees his whole life as meaningless. It is short, about a dozen lines, so every word has to carry weight.

Juliet: “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy” (What’s in a name?)

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 · Verse · about 36 seconds at 150 words a minute

Juliet, alone on the balcony, argues that a name is only a word. Romeo is listening, but she does not know it. It is short, which makes it a good first classical piece.

Ophelia: “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!”

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 · Verse · about 42 seconds at 150 words a minute

Ophelia, left alone after Hamlet’s attack in the nunnery scene, mourns the man he was. It is short and complete in itself, which makes it a common classical audition piece.

Lady Macbeth: “The raven himself is hoarse”

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5 · Verse · about 54 seconds at 150 words a minute

Lady Macbeth hears that Duncan will stay the night and calls on dark spirits to strip away her pity. It is short and intense, and one of the most requested classical pieces for women.

Romeo: “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?”

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 · Verse · about 1.4 minutes at 150 words a minute

Romeo, hidden in the Capulet orchard, sees Juliet at her window. The speech is pure wonder, spoken while she cannot hear him, so the actor has to play to her without being heard.

Macbeth: “Is this a dagger which I see before me”

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1 · Verse · about 1.8 minutes at 150 words a minute

Alone before the murder, Macbeth sees a dagger in the air. The speech moves from doubt to resolve and ends on the bell that sends him to Duncan’s room.

Hamlet: “To be, or not to be”

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 · Verse · about 1.8 minutes at 150 words a minute

Hamlet, alone, weighs whether to go on living. It is the most quoted speech in English drama, which is a reason many coaches advise against it for auditions: the panel has heard it a thousand times. As a study piece it is unbeatable.

Mercutio: The Queen Mab speech

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4 · Verse · about 2.2 minutes at 150 words a minute

Mercutio spins a fantasy about the fairy who brings dreams, and it runs away with him until Romeo stops him. The fun is the speed; the challenge is the turn into darkness near the end.

Hamlet: “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2 · Verse · about 3.0 minutes at 150 words a minute

Hamlet has just watched an actor weep for Hecuba, and turns his anger on himself for doing nothing. It is long and builds to the plan to catch the King with a play, so it rewards an actor who can pace a climb.

More monologue lists

Questions actors ask

What is the shortest dramatic monologue on this list?

Macbeth’s Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5): 12 lines and 90 words, about 36 seconds at 150 words a minute. The longest is Hamlet’s O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2), about 3.0 minutes.

Which dramatic monologues run a minute or less?

Macbeth’s Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (about 36 seconds); Juliet’s ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy (What’s in a name?) (about 36 seconds); Ophelia’s O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! (about 42 seconds); Lady Macbeth’s The raven himself is hoarse (about 54 seconds). Times are speech only, so add a few seconds for pauses and check the casting notice for its limit.

Is this the same as a dramatic monologue in poetry?

No. In poetry, a dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by a character, such as Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess. For actors, a dramatic monologue usually means a serious speech from a play, which is what this page lists.