(serious, and your age.)

Dramatic monologues for teens

Serious pieces for teenage characters, written at that age rather than cut down from an adult's speech. Over two hundred in the library; these are the ones that read best alone, the public-domain ones printed in full.

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1
Louka from Arms and the Man
George Bernard Shaw · play · dramatic · 1:42 min
How easy it is to talk! Men never seem to me to grow up: they all have schoolboy's ideas. You don't know what true courage is. Look at me! how much am I allowed to have my own…
2
Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:36 min
Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face; Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night. Fain would I dwell on form -- fain, fain…
3
Beatrice from The Changeling
Peter Medak · film · dramatic · 1:00 min
4
Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 2:02 min
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou…
5
Helena from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:54 min
O, were that all! I think not on my father; And these great tears grace his remembrance more Than those I shed for him. What was he like? I have forgot him: my imagination Carries…
6
Cordelia from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:53 min
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty According to my bond; no more nor less. Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me; I Return…
7
Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 3:08 min
Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, That almost freezes up the heat of life: I'll call them back again to comfort me:…
8
Eugene Marchbanks from Candida
George Bernard Shaw · play · dramatic · 1:13 min
You think because I shrink from being brutally handled—because I can do nothing but cry with rage when I am met with violence—because I can't lift a heavy trunk down from the top…
9
Miranda from The Tempest
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:58 min
If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the…
10
Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:09 min
The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse; In half an hour she promised to return. Perchance she cannot meet him: that’s not so. O, she is lame! love’s heralds should be…
11
Marina from Pericles, Prince of Tyre
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:37 min
Start: Neither of these are so bad as thou art, Since they do better thee in their command. Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend Of hell would not in reputation…
12
Romeo from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:46 min
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief That…
13
Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:59 min
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' lodging! Such a wagoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close…
14
Juliet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 2:05 min
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I thy three-hours’ wife have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou…
15
Romeo from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:32 min
’Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog, And little mouse, every unworthy thing, Live here in heaven and may look on her, But Romeo…
16
Juliet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:12 min
Tell me not, Friar, that thou hear’st of this, Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it. If in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with…
17
Juliet from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 3:12 min
Farewell. God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life. I’ll call them back again to comfort me.…
18
Romeo from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 3:33 min
In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face. Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris! What said my man, when my betossed soul Did not attend him as we rode? I think He told me Paris…
19
Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:05 min
O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe’er she lies, For she hath blessèd and attractive eyes. How came her…
20
Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:13 min
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment. If you were civil, and knew courtesy, You would not do me thus much injury. Can you not hate me, as I…
21
Young Lucius from Titus Andronicus
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:56 min
My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess, Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her; For I have heard my grandsire say full oft, Extremity of griefs would make men mad; And I have…
22
Marina from Pericles
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:25 min
Why will you kill me? (LEONINE: To satisfy my lady.) Why would she have me kill’d now? As I can remember, by my troth, I never did her hurt in all my life: I never spake bad word,…
23
Arthur from King John
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:55 min
Mercy on me! Methinks nobody should be sad but I. Yet, I remember, when I was in France, Young gentlemen would be as sad as night, Only for wantonness. By my christendom, So I…
24
Arthur from King John
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:20 min
Have you the heart? When your head did but ache, I knit my handkercher about your brows, The best I had, a princess wrought it me, And I did never ask it you again; And with my…
25
Antigone from Antigone
Sophocles · play · anguished · 0:55 min
O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind, Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined, Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent, But with no ill intent; Yet heed a maiden’s moan Who…
26
Io from Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus · play · anguished · 3:37 min
I know not how I should disobey you; and in a plain tale ye shall learn everything that ye desire; and yet I am pained even to speak of the tempest that hath been sent upon me…
27
Gwen from Spider Man Across The Spider Verse
Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson · film · anguished · 1:04 min
28
Penny from Almost Famous
Cameron Crowe · film · anguished · 1:01 min
29
William from Almost Famous
Cameron Crowe · film · anguished · 0:49 min
30
Agu from Beasts of No Nation
Cary Joji Fukunaga · film · dark · 1:20 min

Length is estimated at a spoken pace of about 150 words a minute. Public-domain pieces are printed in full on their own page; copyrighted ones list the character and the source.

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