Monologue

Beatrice Monologue from Much Ado About Nothing

From Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

female · sarcastic · 1:02 min

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Talk with a man out at a window! a proper saying! (BENEDICK: Nay, but Beatrice,—) Sweet Hero! she is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone. (BENEDICK: Beat—) Princes and Counties! Surely, a princely testimony, a goodly Count Comfect; a sweet gallant, surely! O! that I were a man for his sake, or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into curtsies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving.

About this piece

Beatrice expresses her frustration with the limitations placed on women and her desire for the qualities of manhood, revealing her inner conflict and longing for freedom.

20s · longing · identity · gender · power

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