Isabella: “To whom should I complain?”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

Vienna. The Duke has left the city in the hands of his deputy, Angelo, a man famous for his strict and bloodless virtue, who is enforcing a law that punishes sex outside marriage with death. Isabella’s brother Claudio has been condemned under it because Juliet, the woman he calls his wife in all but the public ceremony, is pregnant. Isabella was about to enter a convent, the sisters of Saint Clare, when she was called away to plead for his life.

This is her second meeting with Angelo. He has finally made his offer plain: if she sleeps with him, Claudio lives; if not, Claudio dies, and slowly. She threatens to tell the world what kind of man he is. He answers that no one will believe her against his spotless name and high office (“my false o’erweighs your true”), gives her until tomorrow to answer, and leaves.

Alone, Isabella speaks this, her only soliloquy in the play. She decides to go to Claudio, sure that he would rather die twenty times over than let her give herself to Angelo. In the next scene she tells him, and he begs her to save him: “Sweet sister, let me live.”

Lines: 17
Words: 132
At 150 wpm: 54 sec
Form: Verse

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 5 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–2 · Who would believe me?

1To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,

In plain English Who can I complain to? If I told anyone about this, who would believe me? Oh, the dangerous mouths of the powerful,

Acting note Angelo’s last challenge was “Who will believe thee, Isabel?” She starts by asking herself the same question and realizing he is right.

Lines 3–7 · Power bends the law

3That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof;
5Bidding the law make court’sy to their will;
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother:

In plain English that use one and the same tongue to condemn or to approve as it suits them, making the law bow to whatever they want and dragging right and wrong along behind their appetites, wherever those lead! I’ll go to my brother.

Acting note This is outrage at hypocrisy in power, not a lament. Then, at the end of line 7, the idea arrives: Claudio. Let us see it.

Lines 8–13 · Claudio’s honor

8Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,
10That, had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he’ld yield them up,
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorr’d pollution.

In plain English Though he fell because of the urges of the flesh, he has such a sense of honor in him that if he had twenty heads to lay on twenty bloody execution blocks, he would give them all up before he let his sister lower her body to such disgusting filth.

Acting note She builds Claudio into a hero to give herself courage. The picture is violent and specific. Line 13 is only half a line; let the silence after it hold.

Lines 14–15 · The verdict

14Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
15More than our brother is our chastity.

In plain English So, Isabel, live chaste; and, brother, die. Our chastity matters more than our brother.

Acting note She speaks to herself by name and to Claudio as if he were in front of her, like a judge passing sentence. This is the line audiences judge her by, so you have to mean it and feel what it costs.

Lines 16–17 · The plan

16I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.

In plain English I’ll still tell him what Angelo has asked, and prepare his mind for death, so that his soul can rest in peace.

Acting note Her concern is for his soul, not only his life, and that is why she must tell him. End with purpose, ready to go.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
perilous mouths	2	dangerous mouths (of people in power)
approof	4	approval
make court’sy to their will	5	bow to whatever they want
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite	6	dragging right and wrong along after their desires
prompture of the blood	8	the urging of passion, sexual desire
tender down	10	offer up, lay down
bloody blocks	11	executioner’s blocks, where heads were cut off
stoop	12	bow down, submit
abhorr’d pollution	13	hateful, disgusting defilement
fit his mind to death	17	prepare him to face death

How to perform it

Play the search. She begins with no one to turn to and ends with a plan. Find the moment, at the end of line 7, when the idea of going to Claudio arrives; everything after it is her building the courage to act.
Make lines 2 to 7 an attack. The “perilous mouths” belong to men like Angelo, who use the same tongue to condemn others and excuse themselves. It is fury at power that bends the law to its own appetite, and it should be sharp.
Use the rhyme. The last four lines fall into rhyme (“die” with “chastity,” “request” with “rest”). The couplets make her conclusions sound fixed and final, like vows. Don’t sing them; let them click shut.
Respect the short line. Line 13, “To such abhorr’d pollution,” is only half a line. The missing beats are a pause, and what happens in it (disgust, a breath, a decision) leads into “Then, Isabel.”
Commit to her certainty. The Crossref-it study guide notes that Isabella can be seen as a victim of male power or as cold and rigid. You don’t need to settle that for the whole play, but here you must believe what she believes. The irony, which she cannot know, is that Claudio will not see it her way.
Common mistakes: rushing it because it is short; playing every line at the same pitch of anger; and making “More than our brother is our chastity” a throwaway or a sneer. It is a terrible choice, spoken by someone who believes it is the right one.

Using it in an audition

At 17 lines it runs under a minute (about 0.9 minutes at 150 words a minute), so on its own it is short for most general auditions, though it is complete and has a clear arc from helplessness to decision. It works well where a brief classical piece is asked for. To make it longer, you can start with her threat to Angelo just before it (“Ha! little honour to be much believed”) and go straight into the soliloquy, as if his reply has just been spoken; or offer her furious speech to Claudio in Act 3, Scene 1 (“O you beast!”) as a second piece. Isabella is about to become a nun; the play gives no age, and the speech suits young women who can play fierce conviction. Pair it with something warmer or comic, such as Rosalind’s “And why, I pray you?” or Helena’s “How happy some o’er other some can be!”

Isabella, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 4. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	1.0 minutes
Conversational	150	54 seconds
Brisk	170	48 seconds

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer.

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

T w s I c? D I t t,

W w b m? O p m,

T b i t o a t s-s t,

E o c o a;

B t l m c t t w;

H b r a w t t a,

T f a i d! I t m b:

T h h f b p o t b,

Y h h i h s a m o h,

T, h h t h t t d

O t b b, h y t u,

B h s s h b s

T s a p.

T, I, l c, a, b, d:

M t o b i o c.

I t h y o A r,

A f h m t d, f h s r.

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for women, Comedic monologues, Short monologues, one minute or less.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Isabella’s To whom should I complain? speech?

17 lines and 132 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 54 seconds; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 1.0 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.