(served cold.)

Monologues about revenge

The speech where someone decides what they are going to do about it. Thirteen hundred pieces in the library are tagged with revenge, classical and modern; the thirty below are the ones that read best on their own, the public-domain ones printed whole.

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1
Romeo from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:12 min
Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. Hold, take this letter; early in the morning See thou deliver it to my lord and father. Give me the light; upon thy life I charge…
2
Macbeth from Macbeth
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:07 min
Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most, I will advise you where to plant yourselves, Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’ th’ time, The moment on’t; for’t must…
3
Macbeth from Macbeth
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:14 min
Pr’ythee, see there! Behold! look! lo! how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.— If charnel houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our…
4
Macbeth from Macbeth
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:21 min
Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn’d all those that trust them!—I did hear The galloping of horse: who was’t came by? (LENNOX: ’Tis two or three, my lord, that bring…
5
Iago from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:52 min
That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it; That she loves him, ’tis apt, and of great credit: The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not, Is of a constant, loving, noble nature;…
6
Iago from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:07 min
If I can fasten but one cup upon him, With that which he hath drunk tonight already, He’ll be as full of quarrel and offence As my young mistress’ dog. Now my sick fool Roderigo,…
7
Othello from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:59 min
Now, by heaven, My blood begins my safer guides to rule, And passion, having my best judgement collied, Assays to lead the way. Zounds, if I stir, Or do but lift this arm, the…
8
Iago from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:22 min
How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? Thou know’st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft, And wit depends on dilatory time. Does’t not…
9
Iago from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 0:59 min
Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. He sups tonight with a harlotry, and thither will I go to him. He knows not yet of his honourable fortune. If you will watch his…
10
Emilia from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:32 min
Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would store the world they played for. But I do think it is their husbands’ faults If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,…
11
Iago from Othello
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 0:54 min
I have rubb’d this young quat almost to the sense, And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, Every way makes my gain. Live…
12
Lear from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:55 min
Hear me, recreant! on thine allegiance, hear me! Since thou hast sought to make us break our vows, Which we durst never yet, and with strain’d pride To come betwixt our sentences…
13
Lear from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:02 min
It may be so, my lord. Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful! Into her womb convey sterility! Dry up in…
14
Edmund from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:59 min
The Duke be here tonight? The better! best! This weaves itself perforce into my business. My father hath set guard to take my brother; And I have one thing, of a queasy question,…
15
Edmund from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:06 min
Look, sir, I bleed. (GLOUCESTER: Where is the villain, Edmund?) Fled this way, sir. When by no means he could,— (GLOUCESTER: Pursue him, ho! Go after. —By no means what?) Persuade…
16
Edmund from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:55 min
When I dissuaded him from his intent, And found him pight to do it, with curst speech I threaten’d to discover him: he replied, ‘Thou unpossessing bastard! dost thou think, If I…
17
Lear from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:44 min
O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man’s life is cheap as beast’s. Thou art a lady; If only…
18
Gloucester from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:56 min
I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course. (REGAN: Wherefore to Dover, sir?) Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister…
19
Edgar from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:54 min
I know thee well. A serviceable villain, As duteous to the vices of thy mistress As badness would desire. (GLOUCESTER: What, is he dead?) Sit you down, father; rest you. Let’s see…
20
Edgar from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:24 min
Know my name is lost; By treason’s tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit. Yet am I noble as the adversary I come to cope. (ALBANY: Which is that adversary?) What’s he that speaks for…
21
Brutus from Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:32 min
Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs, Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Let us…
22
Antony from Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:31 min
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers. Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the…
23
Cassius from Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:02 min
Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is a-weary of the world: Hated by one he loves; brav’d by his brother; Check’d like a…
24
Cassius from Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:00 min
Come down; behold no more. O, coward that I am, to live so long, To see my best friend ta’en before my face! (Pindarus descends.) Come hither, sirrah. In Parthia did I take thee…
25
Pompey from Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:59 min
To you all three, The senators alone of this great world, Chief factors for the gods: I do not know Wherefore my father should revengers want, Having a son and friends, since…
26
Antony from Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:23 min
If that thy father live, let him repent Thou wast not made his daughter; and be thou sorry To follow Caesar in his triumph, since Thou hast been whipped for following him.…
27
Antony from Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:37 min
All is lost! This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me. My fleet hath yielded to the foe, and yonder They cast their caps up and carouse together Like friends long lost. Triple-turned…
28
Antony from Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:18 min
Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving And blemish Caesar’s triumph. Let him take thee And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians! Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot…
29
Richard from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 2:40 min
Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York; And all the clouds that loured upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our…
30
Richard from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:23 min
Go you before, and I will follow you. (Exit Hastings.) He cannot live, I hope, and must not die Till George be packed with post-horse up to heaven. I’ll in to urge his hatred more…

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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